1. INTRODUCTION
Despite a humble beginning, Giordano, a manufacturer of casual apparels, has managed to establish itself as a household name today. During the 1970s it evolved to become a well-known clothing chain in the Asian clothing retail market. Giordano's founder, Jimmy Lai, adopted a strategy that differentiated Giordano from its competitors and brought it on the road to success. His strategy includes value pricing, frugality, computerization, good customer service, effective advertising and promotion.
Under Jimmy Lai's leadership, Giordano evolved from a single store in Hong Kong to 360 stores. However, Lai's political involvement in protesting against Mainland China's communist government made it impossible for Giordano to expand into Mainland China. Lai was eventually forced to sell all of his shares in Giordano and thus left Lau to be in charge.
Today, Giordano has a present network of over 1500 stores all over South East Asia, Middle East and Australia and have seen profits and earnings that were more than three hundred fold in the year 2000 compared to 1999. (Asiaweek.com, Under the gun)
2. ANALYSIS
2.1. GIORDANO'S GOALS AND VALUES
Vision: To be the best, the biggest world brand in apparel retailing
Corporate Mission: To make people feel and look great
Core Values: Innovation, Service, Quality, Knowledge and Simplicity
Knowing the company's vision, corporate mission and core values, will allow easier analysis of how the company operates. Working along the lines of the core values, we can see that they are in line with the factors, which led to Giordano's success.
2.2 FACTORS FOR SUCCESS
Value Pricing
The first factor, Value Pricing came into place when Giordano positioned itself as ...