Case Analysis:
Prepared For:
Mr. Do Wo Chang
Created By:
Elizabeth Gandara
Daniel Rodriguez
Diego Gonzales
Forever 21
Memorandum
To:
From:
Date:
Subject:
Mr. Do Wo Chang
Elizabeth Gandara , Daniel Rodriguez, Diego Gonzales
April 26, 2013
Case Analysis of Communication Issues
We have developed a report clarifying the issues of communication that the company is facing. As a part
of Forever 21 we want the best for our customers. The stores have been encountering several dilemmas
because of the poor communication skills of our employees. For this reason we want to support each
and one of our employees by giving them a better education of communication skills.
As we have been working, several misunderstandings between employees have been occurring. Having
communication issues can bring the company down. Favoritism, lack of professionalism, and other
issues between managers and associates have been arising lately. If our employees don’t get educated
on their communication we may lose our clients and the sales may go down. This issue will affect the
company in many manners, but it is not too late to get this problem solved.
Forever 21 has been expanding a lot for these past years and for us to keep it this way, we have to work
together and put this situation under control. As for our employees they need to focus more on their
job. Communicating with each other will help our business to be in order. With our employees working
hard and maintaining the stores clean will help the company improve.
We are honored to have the opportunity to work with your company. Working together will help us
maintain a virtuous manner of handling your stores. If you have any concerns please feel free to contact
us at forever21_groupG@yahoo.com. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Gandara
Daniel Rodriguez
Diego Gonzales
The History, Development, and Growth of Forever 21
Forever 21 was established in 1984 at Los Angeles, California. It is a chain of clothing retailers
that used to be called Fashion 21. Do-Won Chang and his wife Jin Sook are the owners of
Fashion 21. The store began to grow drastically and it was well known. Fashion 21 became
popular and got a lot of business. The store became so famous that they had enough money to
open a store every six months. After having so much approval by their clients, Jin Sook changed
the name of the store form Fashion 21 to Forever 21. Now Forever 21 has 500 stores across
over 18 countries and it even opened a new distribution center in Europe due to its growing
operations. It has stores in the United States, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia,
France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Kuwait,
Malaysia, Oman, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, and Thailand. Forever 21 includes eight
different brands of clothing that can be bought by different genders and consumers. It has a
target audience of young women and men ranging from ages 13 to 30. It sells dresses, tops,
sweaters, outwear, bottoms, jumpsuits and rompers, active wear, lingerie, swimwear,
accessories, and shoes for women. For men, it sells tops, outwear, bottoms, suits, accessories,
and shoes. It is a store that has had a lot of profits and has virtuous clothing.
Forever 21 Vision, Mission, and Goals
Vision: Forever 21’s vision is to keep growing in the future and to work together as a team in
order to have a better environment in the business field. We see this company expanding more
and more in our future years. Our customers will be content with the customer service they
will be receiving and satisfied with the clothing and accessories they’ll be purchasing.
Mission: Forever 21’s mission is to satisfy our clients and to sustain a good environment in each
store. This will help our employees to feel more comfortable and with the desire to come to
work. A mission we want to accomplish is to educate our employees for them to have better
communication skills between them.
Goals: Forever 21’s goals are to improve employee’s interaction and communication, to give
our employees the opportunity to grow in the company, to maintain our global brand and to
expand our customer base by keeping them gratified with our brands of clothing.
Forever 21 is a large and prosperous company which has achieved worldwide success due to
the efficiency of up to trend clothing at prices accessible to everyone. The company continues
to strive; however several problems can be found in the actual store environment. The biggest
component to making a retail store location work is good customer service and productivity in
the workplace.
Having an efficient work environment is necessary to have a successful work place. Customers
depend on the workers to provide this enjoyable environment and ensure them a satisfactory
shopping experience. A happy shopping experience leads to better sales and profits which in
turn makes everyone happy. The key to a successful staff however is unity and good leadership.
It is in the management department where the biggest issues for the store in question can be
found. Communication or the lack thereof between management and sales associates creates a
large problem which affects sales and the overall company. Management is in charge of making
sure there is good communication and that the store is well taken care of and properly
functioning. This can only be accomplished through communication between all employees.
Employee communication is crucial in order to know that all aspect of the store are functioning
correctly. All employees must communicate as the whole staff works as a team, and when one
area of the team is weak the whole structure can break apart. The biggest problem at this
Forever 21 is the lack of communication and teamwork. There is no communication between
sales associates and the store manager. Most interaction between sales associates and
management only takes place with the assistant managers but never with the actual store
manager, who takes on the responsibility of making all big decisions. Seeing as sales associates’
compromise about 80% of the workers employed at the store they are the large majority, and
much care should be taken from the store manager to make sure there is good communication
between themselves and their employees.
The store manager in question for the particular location has little interaction with sales
associates. When interaction does occur it is more of demands or telling what to do other then
questioning on what they think would benefit the store. The manager also spends the bulk of
her time in her office and not on the sales floor where everything takes place. She is rarely seen
which reduces the communication to close to nothing between her and the other nonmanagement employees. The lack of physical interaction with the associates along with other
problems makes many resent management and therefor severe the productivity of the whole
staff as a team.
Another problem found in the store in question again dealing with the store manager deals
with her favoritism. Favoritism is a big problem as employees who get special benefits for no
reason creates tension between all employees and can lead to a rift in the team. Employees not
given special privileges especially when deserving will grow to resent the other employees and
can cut communication between both individual sales associates and the whole team.
The manager is also known to give out promotions based on favoritism alone and not their
efficiency or time worked in the company. Numerous people were given raises or given
promotions based not on merit; and all sales associates along with other managers knew this to
be true however nothing could be said as the store manager had final control and even
punished certain associates for no apparent reasons. Some of the punishments included cutting
hours which could also affect the company as sales associates who did there job correctly were
sometimes not scheduled to work only because the manager did not have a “specific taste” for
them. Overall all the problems can be traced back to the general manager and their lack of
creating a cohesive work environment based on work and merit where all employees are not
only heard but also treated equally.
The biggest problem when noted by the company was the ongoing theft in the store. Theft
accounts for millions of dollars lost to the overall corporation and there are numerous steps
that can be taken to avoid situations where shoplifting occurs. Many employees rarely cared if
shoplifting occurred and were never really trained to spot potential shoplifters. The manager
again is to blame for an amount of the external theft that occurred; due to the loss and
prevention team, whose positions were only to spot shoplifters and deal with the situation,
were fired by the store manager also for no apparent reason. Their termination was only cited
as caused because the team was unnecessary due to sales associates, who she believed could
deal with the loss and prevention in the store. This however was not true as the percentage for
loss and prevention only went up and theft not only continued but increased. This was known
through the findings of security sensors all over the store meaning that they had been removed
by someone other than a worker and discarded in order to steal the item.
Theft was not only found in the customers but also in the employees. Although employees
where checked to make sure nothing was taken it was extremely easy to simply remove sensors
and take clothes or have someone else come and take the clothes that had already been
cleared. This occurred right under the manager for a long time and a rough estimate would
have to say that at least $5,000 worth of merchandise was stolen by employees on a monthly
basis. The theft was sometimes provoked by the store manager who gave no incentives or
positive reinforcements which in turn led to most of the associates not being fond of her. Due
to the theft that occurred by most associates and the knowledge that this happened by almost
everyone else excluding management, although several assistant managers knew and also
partook in the activity, there was no caring if theft took place at all. Employees did not care if
anything was stolen and this led to profit losses for the company and the overall status of a
store being beyond dysfunctional without the store manager knowing and in a way only
provoked and promoted by her.
When it comes to the problems in the store they are all big and difficult problems however all
contain an easy solution. The biggest suggestion would be the termination of many of the
employees based on the incident of shoplifting, which would have to be thoroughly
investigated. The store manager should also face immediate termination for her unjust control
and treatment of employees. Meetings and interactions between every single employee should
be implemented in order to strengthen ties and teamwork in the workplace. Once unity and
teamwork are established along with a fair and equal workplace the company should strive.
Other problems such as loss and prevention can also be helped by reinstating the loss and
prevention team. With the correct steps and solutions to the problems at this location the
company should expect profits to greatly increase, as well as the morale of the workforce and
an overall better situation for everyone.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
1. Termination of certain employees based on detailed findings on suspicion of theft (loss
and prevention on a corporate scale would be notified to conduct and investigate).
Termination of employees involved in theft will lead to the creation a better overall
team as well as cut the theft rates.
2. In store loss and prevention team should be re-hired to manage all shoplifting activity.
New materials such as updated cameras and more up to date sensors would also reduce
the rate of shoplifting and overall increase profits.
3. Weekly staff meetings should be instated. All employees should be in assistance in order
for complete examination of the problems and strengths found during the week and
how these can be remedied.
4. Manager-associate interaction should be encouraged along with a possible 6-month
evaluation of all employees. These evaluations would both boost moral and give better
understanding of the store and individual associates.
5. Termination of the store manager may also be beneficial as much of the problems
revolve around her. Many associates have had problems and a thorough evaluation of
her position should be considered along with the possibility of replacement.
6. Create better unity between all employees and an overall great environment for both
customers and employees. (an employee workshop may prove to be a good resource to
create unity)
SWOT ANALYSIS
Works Cited
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2010. Print.
Kathryn. "The History of Budget Fashion: Forever 21." Forever21: The History of Budget Fashion.
TBF, 29 Apr. 2011. Web. 01 May 2013.
WhippedSTYLE. "6 Things You Didn’t Know About Forever 21 Inspirations." Whipped STYLE.
N.p., 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 01 May 2013.
http://whippedstyle.com/2011/03/25/designer-spotlight-forever-21
Ingram, Frederick. "FOREVER 21, Inc." Interantional Directory of Company Histories. N.p.: n.p.,
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