STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

About the company

• Giordano is a Hong Kong-based company that deals in casual clothing.
• They target men, women, and children
• They have 5 brands- GIORDANO, GIORDANO CONCEPTS, GIORDANO
LADIES, GIORDANO JUNIOR, BLUE STAR EXCHANGE.
• 1800+ Retail stores worldwide along with a presence in over 30 countries.
• Major presence in mainland China, Australia, Hongkong, Japan, Korea,
Singapore, and Taiwan.
• 1757 stores, 46 Giordano ladies stores, 29 Giordano, 111 blue star
exchange stores.
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
• Giordano was founded by JIMMY LAI in Hongkong in 1980
• 1981- first store in Hongkong.
• Entry into Taiwan
• 1985- first retail outlet in Singapore.
• 1994- PETER LAU KWOK became chairman of the company after succeeding jimmy Lai
• Mr peter wanted new and unconventional ways after learning from past mistakes made by Mr
jimmy Lai.
• Mr peter became a role model for the whole company employees.
• Mr peter said in a meeting that- if I can make a mistake and apologize then you can also
mistake as a human being.
• He won the hearts of the employees thus this led to a very strong team of 11,000 dedicated
and ever-smiling sales staff.
 VALUE PROPOSITION
Value-for-money: Giordano positioned itself as a value-for-money apparel retailer
during the late 1980s and reinforced it again during the Asian financial crisis

Giordano was able to sell value-for-money merchandise consistently through

careful selection of suppliers, strict cost control, and by resisting the temptation
to increase retail prices unnecessarily 3 , to
i n s t an c e , in 2 0 0
r s a re learning a F or
n s u m e eater
C o
er a b o u t what value provide gr e nience
lo t b e tt i n g c o n v
ys ask shopp iordano
is. So we alwa to m e r s , G
can we sell it to cus iosks in
ourselves how t o o p e n k
it more started
Convenient Cheaper Quality cheaper, make d train
ie n t fo r th e c onsumer subway an
conven ed at
to buy and deli
ver faster stations aim
their
today than [we
did] providing a “grab
ll value, m e rs w it h
yester d a y . T h a t is a custo
nience is d g o ” s e rvice.
be c au s e c o nv e e
a n
consumer. Tim
 Five pillars of organizational and brand
values:

CRITICAL A S P E C T S O F
O RG ANIZ AT IO N

QUAL I T KNOWL EDG

Y E

To make people
“feel good” and
“look great
INNOVATION S IM P L IC IT Y SERVICE
POSITIONING
• Product Differentiation
• -value for money
• -Quality merchandise at affordable prices

• Service differentiation
• -High-level service for customers

• Personal differentiation
• -Dedicated, well manner helpful staff.
Brands owned by Giordano
• Giordano Men & Giordano Women
• Launched in 1981, Giordano's house brand has been the core brand of the company from the outset, offering
both men's and women's casual apparel and essentials.
• Giordano Ladies
• Giordano Ladies caters to women. Launched in 1997.
• Giordano Junior
• Giordano Junior offers children's wear.
• BSX
• First launched in 1999 as a value-oriented basics brand, Bluestar Exchange was re-branded as BSX in 2007.
• Beau Monde
• Beau Monde is one of Giordano's newest brands, offering basic everyday clothing at reasonable prices. Launched
in 2014, Beau Monde stores are primarily located in residential and shopping districts in China and Taiwan.
• It also owns G-Motion, GIORDANO Timewear, GIORDANO Travelgear, GIORDANO eyewear, CONCEPTS ONE, etc.
brands
Verticals of Giordano
- Lai’s tried new unconventional way of doing business and changed his management philosophy and it
became integral part of Giordano’s business.
- Lai saw Occasional failure as a limitation that indirectly affected future decision
- Lai believed in employee empowerment
- Giordano considered frontline workers to be its customer heroes.
- They believed its people who makes service exceptional training programmes are merely skeleton of
customer service programme.
- Giordano had stringent selection procedures to make sure that the candidates selected matched the
desired employee profile. Selection continued into its training workshops, which tested the service
orientation and character of a new employee.
- High invested in training and development programmes. They also got awards like Hong Kong
Association Certificate of Merit.
- They used to offer attractive salaries as they used to provide below market average base salary but
attractive performance related bonuses
• Giordano was only too aware that welfare benefits.
managing its human resources (HR)
became a major challenge when it
decided to expand into global markets.
To replicate its high-service quality
positioning, Giordano knew it needed
to consider the HR issues involved in
setting up retail outlets in unfamiliar
territory. For example, the
recruitment, selection, and training of
local employees required
modifications to its formula for success
in its current markets, owing to
differences in the culture, education,
and technology of the new countries.
Labor regulations also affected HR
policies such as compensation and
 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Giordano’s rapid change of strategy according to market conditions.

• Phenomenal customer service.
• Flat organization structure.
• Shifted to Lean operation.
• Value for money products.
• Out of the box marketing campaigns and CSR activity.
 Lesson to be learned.

Train your employee in the best way possible.

Diversification of the brand is good, but it should be implemented

with proper caution and background research.

Took best Practices out of the industry and implemented in Giordano’s

structure.
THANK YOU

If you have any questions please ask !