Chapter 1

Introduction and its Background

1.0 Introduction
Every business has an organization that is composed of different individuals with different
level of expertise working together to achieve a common goal. With this, an organization is
important in order to organize the work of each of them and to make the business process a lot
easier and effective. It helps in placing the right people in their right job or position based on their
educational attainment, level of expertise and etc. It also helps the company to easily provide the
equipment and technology needed by each department. Since organization makes each department
organized, the division of work for employees, its authorities and responsibilities are clear.
Business that encourage their employee to specialize their skill can result to an increase of their
productivity and improve their techniques and encourage them to have a constructive thinking.
When an organization is capable of implementing and achieving its goals, the whole management
will benefit for they can come up with the best strategies that will increase the level of the
business’s performance. Thus, achieving the success every business aim, starts with having an
effective, productive and reliable organization.
In an organization, there are managers who are important in the achievement and fulfillment
of the organizational goal. They help the company by giving his or her full effort in guiding,
directing and controlling the business processes and for combining or using organizational
resources to ensure that their organizations achieve their purpose. Considered as a tool of
communication, they serve as a way in communicating all the concerns of the whole organization
to the top management. They are the one who communicate to different personnel inside the
organization and is assigned in leading his people, in distribution of tasks and setting up a goal
through his effective way of decision making. They lead every employee to perform their task
accurately and perform effectively to meet the expectations of the company. They are the
individuals who take risk in making big decisions that would greatly affect the profit and
performance of a business. Being a key factor in achieving the success of the business, managers
help by being properly organized in the distribution of jobs, being a spokesperson for the
organization, being prepared to face different problems and come up with an effective solution and
many more. Managers in an organization contribute a lot of factor that would greatly affect the
level of performance in a business. With an excellent manager and a great organization, every
objective, target or goals will be met, making the business successful.
A good and established organization helps in making the business process effective and
efficient. With the help of a skillful manager, the employees can be motivated and develop skills
that may contribute in achieving the goal of the organization and the business. Uniqlo, a business
widely known for retailing and merchandising of clothes, established in 1984 is an example of a
great organization with excellent managers leading for it to continue its stable running for more
than a decade up to the future.

A. Historical Background
Since March 1949, a Yamaguchi-based company, Ogori Shōji (which, until then, had been
operating men's clothing shops called "Men's Shop OS") existed in Ube, Yamaguchi.
In May 1984, they opened a unisex casual wear store in Fukuro-machi, Naka-
ku, Hiroshima under the name "Unique Clothing Warehouse". Initially, the brand was going to be
registered as a shortened contraction of "unique clothing". However, in 1988, during
administration work between Hong Kong in relation to the brand, staff in charge of registration
misread the "C" as "Q", and that is how the brand name was born. From then, Tadashi Yanai
changed the store name to "uniqlo" across Japan. In September 1991, the name of the company
was changed from "Ogori Shōji" to "Fast Retailing", and by April 1994, there were over 100
Uniqlo stores operating throughout Japan.
In 1997, Fast Retailing adopted a set of strategies from American retailer The Gap, known
as "SPA" (for specialty-store/retailer of private-label apparel), meaning that they would produce
their own clothing and sell it exclusively. They engaged the retail brand consultancy, CIA, Inc. /
The Brand Architect Group, to guide the company through the realization of this strategy, including
consulting on merchandise, visual merchandising and display, store design and a new logo
designed by Richard Seireeni and Sy Chen of The Brand Architect Group's Los Angeles
office. Uniqlo had begun outsourcing their clothing manufacturing to factories in China where
labor was cheap, a well-established corporate practice. Japan was in the depths of a recession at
the time, and the low-cost goods proved popular. Their advertising campaigns, clothing quality
and new retail layouts also proved fruitful.
In November 1998, they opened their first urban Uniqlo store in Tokyo's trendy Harajuku district,
and outlets soon spread to major cities throughout Japan. In 2001, sales turnover and gross profit
reached a new peak, with over 500 retail stores in Japan. When Uniqlo decided to expand overseas,
it separated Uniqlo from the parent company, and established Fast Retailing (Jiangsu) Apparel Co.,
Ltd. in China. In 2002 their first Chinese Uniqlo outlet was opened in Shanghai along with four
overseas outlets in London, England.
In 2005 saw more overseas expansion, with stores opening in the United States (New York
City), Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui) and South Korea (Seoul), their South Korean expansion being
part of a joint venture with Lotte. As of year-end 2005, in addition to its overseas holdings, Uniqlo
had around 700 stores within Japan. By 2006 sales were $4 billion. By April 2007, the company
had set a global sales goal of $10 billion and a ranking among the top five global retailers, joining
what at the time was Gap, H&M, Inditex, and Limited Brands.
Fast Retailing signed a design consulting contract for Uniqlo products with fashion
designer Jil Sander in March 2009. Shiatzy Chen has been approached by Uniqlo to produce
a capsule collection of ready to wear pieces to launch in November 2010 while Asia's largest
Uniqlo store outside Japan opened its doors in Kuala Lumpur in the same month.
On 2 September 2009, Fast Retailing announced that the company would target annual
group sales of 5 trillion yen (approx. US$61.2 billion) and pretax profit from operations of 1 trillion
yen (approx. US$12.2 billion) by 2020. This means that the company is aiming to become the
world's biggest specialty retailer of private label apparel with a continuous growth rate of 20% per
year. The figure breaks down as one trillion yen from Uniqlo's Japan business, three trillion yen
from its international business, and one trillion yen from “Japan-related and global brand
business.” The company's international business target breaks down as one trillion yen in China,
one trillion in other Asian countries and one trillion in Europe and the United States.
In October 2018, Uniqlo collaborated with designed Alexander Wang to create a line of Heattech
layerable basics including tank tops, leggings, underwear and bodysuits.
1.1 Mission
“Unlocking the Power of Clothing”
We believe we can turn the power of clothing into a force for good.
By designing, making and selling good clothing,
we can make the world a better place.
Good clothing means simple clothing, high in quality, and built to last.
It's clothing that enriches the lives of people
who wear it by giving them comfort, protection and pleasure.

It is produced in a way that is harmonious with nature,

without excessive burden on the environment.
Good clothing is made by people of diverse backgrounds
working with energy and enthusiasm, under conditions
where their health, safety and human rights are respected and upheld.
And we will extend this same spirit to our customers and all our stakeholders,
working with them to aspire to a better society where we all thrive.
This is our promise: to always work toward a better, more sustainable society.

Corporate Statement
“Changing clothes. Changing conventional wisdom. Change the world.”

Goals
 Do everything possible for our customers.
 Pursue excellence and aim for the highest level of achievement.
 Achieve strong results through the promotion of diversity and teamwork.
 Move speedily and decisively in everything we do.
 Conduct business in a very real way based on the current marketplace, products and facts.
 Act as global citizens with ethics and integrity.
Core Values
 Approaching issues from the customer perspective.
 Embracing innovation and challenge.
 Respecting and supporting individuals to foster both corporate and personal growth.
 Committing to ethical standards and correctness.