Report On Ideas by Gul Ahmed-Updated
Report On Ideas by Gul Ahmed-Updated
Report On Ideas by Gul Ahmed-Updated
REPORT
IDEAS BY GUL AHMED
GROUP MEMBERS:
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Introduction
The Gul Ahmed Group is a Pakistani company that consists of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, Gul
Ahmed Energy and Habib Metropolitan Bank. Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Ltd., the first member
of the group, started operating in the 1950s. In 1972, it was listed on Karachi stock exchange
which fast-tracked its progress and enabled it to make it to the list of leading textile companies in
the world. Moving into the 1990’s, The Gul Ahmed Group started a chain of retail outlets
operating under the name "Ideas by Gul Ahmed". More than 60 years since its foundation, the
name Gul Ahmed is still widely recognized for its quality of products, innovation &
trustworthiness.
After making a lot of progress in the textile industry, Gul Ahmed introduced Ideas by Gul
Ahmed as its flagship store which has now spread to a chain of more than 100+ retail stores
across the country. Ideas by Gul Ahmed is a retail business which offers fabrics and made ups
along with a very diverse range of home accessories and clothing. In the past years of its
functioning, it has been providing customers with fashion at the best available quality and prices.
The vision of the company is to enrich lives of its customers by introducing inspiring changes”.
The mission statement highlights their priority to dedication for delivering value to their
stakeholders through innovative technology, teamwork while keeping in mind their social and
environmental responsibilities. It is the company’s dedication towards achieving this mission that
makes it one of the Green Companies of the country. (Believing in its duty towards sustainable
development goals, the company has also set up a waste water treatment plant to treat 100
percent of its waste, bringing it to NEQS levels).
Ideas by Gul Ahmed has a goal of becoming an exemplary green company that is environment-
friendly and socially responsible. In its efforts towards sustaining the environment for future
generations, Ideas by Gul Ahmed aims to adopt the best practices necessary to ensure a greener
society for a brighter future.
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Problem Identification
Our team interviewed Ideas by Gul Ahmed as a part of our Management and Organizational
Behaviour project. While interviewing the Brand Manager, Ms. Sundus, we came to the
conclusionthat the foremost issue for Ideas by Gul Ahmed lies in their planning. Planning in an
organization is a vast subject covering many aspects of management in the organization. Below
are some of the prominent flaws in planning that is preventing Ideas by Gul Ahmed to gain a
major share of the market.
Family Conflict
In a family owned business, several issues could arrive. They could occur due to the family’s
personal problems, or they could be related to one of the business activities upon disagreement.
Conflict is a natural part of running a business but when colleagues and employees are also
family members, ordinary conflict can take on new dimensions. According to the Brand Manager
at Ideas, the company has been able to run rather smoothly despite being a family business.
Nevertheless, conflicts can arise, and a business must take necessary precautions/actions to
prevent/contain it. At Ideas, sometimes certain situations have come up where a difference of
opinion among the top hierarchy(family) has resulted in problems. Also, there have been
instances when the family has been united while ignoring the opinions of other top-level
executives and Board of Directors. These types of conflicts, which occur sometimes, need to be
addressed and remedied.Corporations and non-family business have formal barriers to conflict
between colleagues; Human Resources departments and the natural separation between work and
family make it unlikely that a workplace conflict will have serious repercussions on a firm’s
future. On the other hand, the interconnected nature of family businesses means that family
drama, workplace issues and conflicts regarding the business can easily become serious
problems and put the company at threat. Many, if not most, family firms lack formal processes
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and strategies to mediate disputes, making it difficult to prevent inevitable quarrels from
developing into ongoing issues.
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Secondary Research
BCG Matrix:
The BCG Matrix was developed in 1968, when an employee of the Boston Consulting Group,
Bruce Henderson, introduced it as a tool to help organizations with the task of analyzing their
product line or portfolio. It provides organizations with a ‘snapshot’ of how their products are
doing. It helps organizations with long term strategic planning, by helping a business consider
growth opportunities by analyzing its portfolio of products and deciding where to invest,
discontinue or develop products. The BCG Matrix is a very effective corporate planning tool
which provides a framework to analyze products according to the following two dimensions:
1) Relative Market Share: Higher corporate market share results in higher cash returns. This is
because a firm that produces more, benefits from higher economies of scale and experience
curve, which results in higher profits. Nonetheless, it is worth to note that some firms may
experience the same benefits with lower production outputs and lower market share.
2) Market growth rate: High market growth rate means higher earnings and sometimes profits but
it also consumes lots of cash, which is used as investment to stimulate further growth. Therefore,
business units that operate in rapid growth industries are cash users and are worth investing in
only when they are expected to grow or maintain market share in the future.
1) The Star
2) The Cash Cow,
3) The Problem Child
4) The Dog
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1) The Star:
The star operates in high growth industries and maintains high market shares. The star product is
both a cash generator and a cash user simultaneously. These are the primary units in which a
company should invest in since a star is likely to become a cash cow and generate positive cash
flow. However, not all stars become cash cows. This is most seen in rapidly changing industries,
where new innovative products are constantly introduced and they too are outcompeted by new
technological advancements. In that scenario, a star turns into a dog.
4) The Dog:
Dogs hold low market share compared to competitors and operate in a slowly growing market.
Generally, they generate very low or negative cash flows and are not worth investing in.
however, dogs can have other functions as well. They may provide synergies for other brands or
simply act as a defense against competitors. Therefore, it is vital to perform a deeper analysis in
order to decide whether a product should be divested or not.
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BCG matrix w.r.t to Ideas by Gul Ahmed:
During our interview, we were able to identify different types of products at Ideas by Gul
Ahmed. Following are the distinct product lines available at ideas
1) Ideas home
2) Men’s wear
3) Women clothing
4) Unstitched Fabric
The unstitched fabric by Gul Ahmed has been in market for decades and is the bestselling
product line for this organization. They have a huge market share in a steady market which
makes it a very effective cash cow. The unstitched Gul Ahmed fabric has customers both local
and in international markets. Export of the fabric earns large positive cash flows which are
invested into the other product lines. However, it is important to note that the market has been
changing for some time and further change is also expected. A consumer is more likely to buy
ready to wear clothing instead of unstitched cloth. Gradually, the industry of unstitched cloth in
shrinking, however Gul Ahmed fabric still has a huge market in the form of other clothing
manufacturers, both at home and overseas.
Ideas home is second most selling product line. It consists of Bedding, home accessories and
bath linen. Ideas has managed to gain a huge market for home products with its exceptional
quality and durability. The home products are a star for the organization since it generates
positive cash flows and has the potential for further growth. Ideas invests and wishes to make the
home products a cash cow and gain more market share by beating out competitors such as
Khaadi. This star product is paramount to the brand’s growth and the organization spends
considerable resources towards its growth and development.
Next we have the Women’s wear by Ideas. Ideas produces unstitched lawn, stitched eastern and
western clothes as well as accessories such as footwear and bags. The market for women
clothing is highly competitive and huge with several huge brands holding a considerable amount
of the market share. Ideas would place it’s women’s wear under the Question mark or Problem
child. The market shows growth and prospect, yet ideas has not been able to beat out its
competitors such as Bonanza Satrangi, Junaid Jamshed, Khaadi, Sana Safinaz etc. these brands
have held a good portion of the market which hinders ideas’ growth in women’s wear.
Nevertheless, the market shows ample opportunity for ideas and the organization is using the
resources generated through the cash cow and star to improve this product line.
Men’s wear is a troublesome product line for ideas. Ideas deals with eastern, western and
unstitched fabric when it comes to Men’s wear. Unfortunately, unstitched fabric and eastern
wear has not been generating satisfactory results and must be placed in the dog category. The
market for eastern wear and unstitched fabric is shrinking and here too, ideas’ competitors hold
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an advantage over them. Highest sales of eastern wear are recorded around Eid season in
Pakistan and forced by habit; the customers visit a bigger brand name such as Junaid Jamshed.
The competitors hold significant advantage in an already shrinking market. However, Ideas does
not plan on divesting this product line. They have allocated ample resources and manpower,
including an extensive marketing strategy to boost sales and remove this product from the dog
category. It may not happen soon, but Ideas is confident in making it a successful product line in
the future.
To conclude, Ideas by Gul Ahmed has 4 different product lines, all with its pros and cons. With
right resource allocation, smart strategic planning and good leadership they will be able to
maintain and improve their quality, standard, market share and sales.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths: depict what an association exceeds expectations at and what isolates it from
the challenge: a solid brand, faithful client base, a solid accounting report, novel
innovation etc. are all examples of strength. For instance, fence investments may have
built up an exclusive exchanging technique that profits showcase beating results. An
organization should then choose how to utilize those outcomes to pull in new financial
specialists.
Weaknesses: prevent an association from performing at its ideal dimension. They are
regions where the business needs to improve to stay focused: a feeble brand, higher-than-
normal turnover, abnormal amounts of obligation, an insufficient store network, or
absence of capital etc.
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Opportunities: allude to ideal outside elements that could give an association an upper
hand. For instance, if a nation cuts duty, a vehicle producer can send out its autos into
another market, expanding deals and piece of the overall industry.
Threats: allude to factors that can possibly hurt an association. For instance, a dry spell
is a danger to a wheat-delivering organization, as it might devastate or decrease the
harvest yield. Other basic dangers incorporate things like increasing expenses for
materials, expanding rivalry, tight work supply.
Gul Ahmed started its retail industry in 2003 and gradually established a strong foothold in the
retail sector. With time it has made a strong impression amongst its customers by providing them
with genuine quality accessories for example traditional and casual attire for men and women,
home accessories, and its finest unstitched fabric. After almost 16 years, Ideas by Gul Ahmed
has revamped itself by introducing new designs and materials that matches the needs of their
customers, for example a category by the name of Mr. Blue for the younger generation. This
instant categorization has really given Ideas a competitive edge over its competitors like Furor,
Cambridge, Khaadi, and Junaid Jamshed. Furthermore, Ideas believe that it has always been
privileged to work with an adaptive staff that has always been into researching about consumer
needs and preferences.
Coming towards the weaknesses, Ideas has been taking time to devise a proper plan when it
comes to managing multiple locations. With having 100+ retail stores all over Pakistan, it
becomes a necessity for an effective management in order to stay ahead than the competitors.
For Ideas by Gul Ahmed, numerous opportunities seem to be available. Firstly, the export market
has not been explored yet. Ideas has stayed focused towards its customers within Pakistan. If
they plan on exporting their products worldwide, they would require certain new and effective
strategies that make their work easier. Such strategies may include either a globalization strategy,
which refers to a uniform product all over the world, or a multi domestic strategy, which refers to
customization of product as per the needs of the customers internally and globally.
All businesses encounter threats. Same is the case for Ideas by Gul Ahmed. Ideas is brand
catering to the mass which has made it unable to specialization in a particular category while its
competitors have specialized themselves by targeting specialized market. For example, Junaid
Jamshed is focused towards the traditional attire for men. Furor, which has successfully
differentiated itself from Edenrobe, has targeted itself towards the casual and semi informal attire
for the trendy, fashion conscious young millennials. Khaadi, which is also pioneer in the retail
industry, has captured market with more creative aesthetics.
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PESTEL Analysis:
Political Factors:
These factors are all about how and to what degree a government intervenes in the economy or a
certain industry. All the influences that a government has on a certain business could be
classified here. This can include government policy, political stability or instability, corruption,
foreign trade policy, tax policy, labour law, environmental law and trade restrictions.
Furthermore, the government may have a profound impact on a nation’s education system,
infrastructure and health regulations. These are all factors that are considered when assessing the
attractiveness of a potential market. Organisations need to be able to respond to the current and
anticipated future legislation and adjust their marketing policy accordingly.
Environmental:
Environmental components have gone to the cutting edge just generally as of late. They have
turned out to be significant because of the expanding shortage of crude materials, contamination
targets and carbon impression targets set by governments. These elements incorporate natural
and ecological angles, for example, climate, atmosphere, ecological counterbalances and
environmental change which may particularly influence ventures, for example, the travel
industry, cultivating, agribusiness and protection. Moreover, developing attention to the potential
effects of environmental change is influencing how organizations work and the items they offer.
This has prompted numerous organizations getting increasingly more associated with practices,
for example, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability.
Social Factors:
Also known as socio-cultural factors, these are the areas that involve the shared belief and
attitudes of the population. This dimension of the general environment represents the
demographic characteristics, norms, customs and values of the population within which the
organization operates. This includes population trends such as the population growth rate, age
distribution, income distribution, career attitudes, safety emphasis, health consciousness, lifestyle
attitudes and cultural barriers. These factors are especially important for marketers when
targeting certain customers. In addition, it also says something about the local workforce and its
willingness to work under certain conditions.
Technological:
These variables relate to advancements in innovation that may influence the activities of the
business and the market positively or horribly. This alludes to innovation motivators, the
dimension of advancement, mechanization, research and development (R&D) action, mechanical
change and the measure of innovative mindfulness that a market has. These components may
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impact choices to enter or not enter certain ventures, to dispatch or not dispatch certain items or
to re-appropriate creation exercises abroad. By recognizing the trends and patterns in the market,
you might most likely keep your organization from spending a great deal of cash on building up
an innovation that would end up out of date soon because of troublesome mechanical changes
somewhere else.
Economic:
These variables are determinants of an economy's exhibition that straightforwardly impacts an
organization and have reverberating long haul impacts. For instance, a rise in the prices of goods
and services in any economy would influence the way organizations' value their items and
administrations. Adding to that, it would influence the buying intensity of a buyer and change
request/supply models for that economy. Financial components incorporate inflation rates,
interest rates, exchange rate, and the use of government policies to influence economic growth. It
additionally represents the FDI (foreign direct investment) contingent upon certain particular
enterprises who are using PESTEL analysis.
Legal Factors:
Although these factors may have some overlap with the political factors, they include more
specific laws such as discrimination laws, health and safety laws, equal opportunities,
advertisement standards, product labelling and safety, antitrust laws, employment laws,
consumer protection laws, copyright and patent laws, and health and safety laws. Companies
need to know what is and what is not legal in order to trade successfully and ethically. If an
organisation trades globally this becomes especially tricky since each country has its own set of
rules and regulations. In addition, you want to be aware of any potential changes in legislation
and the impact it may have on your business in the future. It is recommended to have a legal
expert or an attorney to help with legal aspect of the business.
Today’s market is incredibly unpredictable and happening. The social factors of the environment
are crucial for a company. Right now, a large portion of customers require introduction of new
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and large variety of fashion trends, in line with the international market. The company aims to
achieve that through their teams of fashion designers and people who not only understand
fashion, but also study, and often create fashion trends. Being a trendy clothing brand, allows the
company to be remembered by its customers. However, this also makes the market highly
competitive and unpredictable. If a competitor introduces a new trend, it makes the company
vulnerable. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep up with new trends in the market.
Furthermore, customers are growing awareness regarding health and safety. They require
products which do not cause any health hazards. Customers require their product to be
environment-friendly and want the brand to make measures in doing so. Therefore, it is
important to have a green policy and proper compliance with regards to customer protection
measures. Another major concern for the company is the growing population. Customer base is
increasing everyday however, the company has not been able to expand(annual growth) at the
same rate which has resulted in an unfavorable effect on the economy. It is important for the
company to grow and tap into all the available markets. Here, customer loyalty becomes a
debatable topic as well. Since loyalty is increasing day by day, the company needs to find a way
to maintain loyalty of their customers, while simultaneously make the competitor’s customer
switch. The company needs to be extremely aware of it and make efforts to do so. Lastly, CSR
Activities also play an integral role in the company’s image. The company engages in several
such activities and also wishes to market them better to get customer’s approval and show the
company’s good faith.
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Solutions
Differentiating Ideas and Gul Ahmed:
Separate Website:
By having a separate website, Ideas can market itself differently as compared to Gul Ahmed. A
site won't just give you believability however it can give a feeling that your organization is
bigger and more effective than it might really be. An independent venture positioning in front of
an expansive global rival in Google and increasing a portion of their traffic is much
progressively significant as it will in general even the odds.
Creative Content:
Ideas believe that it has served its customers very well by providing them the best quality. But
catering your customers is not the only important thing. Ideas should target on making its
customers engaging and responsive. How are they going to achieve that? With creative designs,
Ideas should work on sharing creative content to aware their customers. These trendy contents
can be about their new advertising campaigns; it can be an online platform where customers can
share their experience after trying the products of Ideas. All this will just make the firm more
aware of the needs of its customers and by focusing on that it can have a separate identity of its
own.
Family Conflict:
Leverage formal governance structures to mitigate conflict:
One issue that we have seen arises in many family businesses is that family members may lack a
forum for discussing issues in the business. Formal structures like family councils, boards and
family forums can offer family members a safe, organized way to bring up issues and negotiate
conflict. Formal governance can also help mitigate family and financial issues by separating
ownership of the business from its management functions.
Communicate early and often about issues:
Many large complications start as small problems that could have been resolved with early
intervention. Sometimes, spotting issues early and addressing them through clear communication
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can be enough to prevent a conflict from developing. Even when family members see each other
regularly in the business, formal family meetings can be a better place to hash out complex
issues. Whether it’s at a family retreat or simply at a separate meeting, making a break from
daily routine to tackle the big issues can help open lines of communication. A formal setting can
also help ensure that issues are not ignored and that members of the family have the opportunity
to make their opinions heard.
Bring in experts to mediate major conflicts:
Some issues simply cannot be resolved internally. When family members become entrenched
and constructive dialogue isn’t possible, an objective expert who is trained to help resolve
conflict can help cut through the emotions and focus on issues. A mediator can also help guide a
family through initial conversations all the way to a final resolution. We have found that many
family groups can achieve more in a few hours with an outside expert than they have in years by
themselves.
Men’s Apparel:
Relating to Ideas:
For Ideas, a way to capture the market can be to offer custom designs and fittings, bespoke
kurtas and suits. They could offer customers a chance to custom design their clothing; from
fabric to stitching style. This would allow all customers to get the perfect clothing for themselves
from one place. There is also a rising culture of theme events and parties, like wedding functions.
Ideas could allow its customers to custom design their dress code and buy a bulk quantity. We
see this strategy being employed by brands such as The Ambassador and Moosajee’s. They deal
in formal wear and allow customers to choose their own fabric, print and stitch. Ideas could be
the first brand to introduce such services in Eastern Men Women’s Apparel. With this strategy,
they could raise the Men’s Apparel to a better state while also raising the Women’s apparel to a
new height. If ideas were to provide people with services to cater every individual customer’s
need, it would not only increase sales but also enhance the company’s image as one which cares
about its customers.
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Contribution list
1) Muhadisa Abbas
Introduction
Solutions for Family Conflict
2) Akash Kumar
3) Mubashir
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APPENDIX
Interview Recording and Approval: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1-
Rskpen9U5fCrIzouYrSY0Esp0hZctTt
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