FAS 427: Operations Management in the Fashion Business Library Research

Kelly BennettReference/Instruction LibrarianKelly-bennett@berkeleycollege.edu

732-750-1800 ext.2100

Your AssignmentSelect a major fashion corporation (for example, Liz Claiborne, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, etc.) and research the following topics covered in class:O Marketing strategiesO Licensing agreements (how licensees are selected, average

length of time for licensing agreements, how the fashion organization is compensated, contractual arrangements, how the fashion organization decides what it produces vs. what is licensed, if licensing their name keeps them competitive, etc.)

O Apparel product lines and prices ranges (is there enough diversity in their product lines/pricing, do they make complementary products for their primary product lines, etc.)

O Global sourcing strategies, including where products are manufactured, and why.

O Production planning and strategiesO Quality control procedures

Where to find this information…

O Company WebsiteO 10K report!

O Newspapers/PeriodicalsO WWD, Business Week, New York Times,

Wall Street JournalO Electronic Databases

O Business Insights GlobalO Mergent OnlineO IBISWorld

O LibGuide

What is a 10K report?OA comprehensive summary report

of a company's performance that must be submitted annually to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

ORequired by law for any publicly traded company in the US.

First, let’s look at a company website. You will find your company’s 10K/ Annual Report on their

Investor Relations Page. This report will provide you with detailed information that

you need for your paper.

Look for these terms at the

bottom of the website:

Annual Reports, Investor Relations,

SEC filings, etc.

Here is the 2013 10K/Annual Report for American Apparel, Inc.You can look in the table of contents or browse through the

document to find the information you need.

The report is Keyword Searchable

What are your search terms? Marketing strategies

Advertising/ Advertise/Advertisement

Target customers Promotions Licensing /Licensing agreements Apparel product lines Prices / Price range Global sourcing Production planning Production/ Production strategies Quality control

These terms should be

familiar – they are outlined in

your assignment!

Target young metropolitan adults

in the US.Will benefit from growing trend in casual attire & higher quality

apparel.

Quality controlIn house

production of fabric & knit

Continue to search through the entire document for all occurrences of your search terms to ensure you find all

relevant information!

Let’s try another search

Where the production for

different fabrics takes place

Why domestic production is

important to the brand, quality control, etc…

Now that we’ve looked through the 10K report, let’s search in one of

Berkeley College Libraries’ databases:

for company profiles and articles.

Business InsightsGlobal

To access Business Insights Global, click on Databases.

Here is the list of databases filed by subject heading. Click on the A-Z List.

Click on Business Insights: Global.

This is the homepage for Business Insights: Global. This is where you can search for articles on your company, or company profiles. Search for your

company in the search box. Let’s search for Gap Inc.

Here is the profile for Gap Inc.

There are many types of resources listed here. Towards the top you will

see Company Profiles.

Click any sub-heading for a specific report. Let’s view the

SWOT report.

Click the PDF icon to see the SWOT report. This will tell you the company’s strengths, weakness,

opportunities and threats.

This chart provides basic SWOT information for Gap Inc. These ideas are

elaborated on later in the document.

Let’s go back to our search results for Gap Inc. To view some articles, let’s click on the results for Recent

News.

Here are all the Recent News articles that mention Gap Inc. Lots of these look off topic. You can try going back and searching “Gap Inc” in quotation marks

so you find the name of the company as a phrase.

After changing my search to “gap inc” in quotation marks and clicking on Recent News,

I found articles that are more relevant to my company. Click on an article to read about your company in the news.

Social MediaLook at social media to see companies’ latest promotions.

Finally, visit the Fashion LibGuides

http://berkeleycollege.libguides.com/FAS427ApparelAssignment

FAS 427 Apparel Assignment LibGuide

To access the LibGuide, go to the Library tab and click on LibGuides.

Click on Fashion (listed in the Subjects box).

Click on FAS 427 Apparel Manufacturing Corporation Assignment

This LibGuide includes your assignment instructions and will show what databases to use, find articles, books, websites and cite sources.

Clicking on this tab, for example, outlines and links to the databases most relevant to this assignment.

Questions? Comments?Kelly Bennett

Reference/Instruction LibrarianKelly-bennett@berkeleycollege.edu

732- 750-1800 ext. 2100Chat with a Librarian 7 Days a Week

from the Library Homepage or the

LibGuides!