ABERCROMBIE & FITCH: IS IT UNETHICAL TO BE EXCLUSIVE?
FASH443 CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT
20% of Final Course Grade
DUE: Sunday, April 28th, 2024 @ 11:59PM
Instructions: Go to the Harvard Business Publishing site, https://hbsp.harvard.edu, and register as a student. Copy and paste the followinglink, https://hbsp.harvard.edu/import/1163618, to access a HBP case study along with a Business of Fashion case study for a fee of $4.25. You will have access to the casesfor up to 6 months. Read the cases thoroughly and write a formal response to address the following:
1. Provide an overview of Abercrombie & Fitch (brief history of the company, when was it founded and by whom? How many stores, how many employees, target customer(s), annual revenue), and a synopsis of the case and the issues at hand.
2. Based on “White Hot,” the Netflix documentary viewed in class on 4/1/24 and your case study readings, describe the culture at A&F during Michael Jeffries’ time as CEO and how it became that way.
3. Who is Michael Jeffries (his background)? What are the behaviors attributed to him?
4. What impact did his behaviors have on A&F employees, A&F customers, and A&F investors? What HR related policies might have been in violated during Jeffries’ time as CEO?
5. Because A&F had been extremely successful over the past several years, was Jeffries justified to stick with the status quo? Why or why not?
6. Should Jeffries have responded to the controversy of being exclusionary by adding more sizes to the company’s clothing line or…(offer an alternative approach)?
7. Discuss the ethical challenges of target/niche marketing, i.e., A&F’s decision to market only to certain people. What were some of the HR and legal challenges A&F encountered as a result of its niche marketing approach?
8. Explore the societal responsibility of companies as it pertains to a company’s contribution to teen body image issues and status segregation among teens. Compare what Jeffries did to the more recent controversy that embroiled Facebook/Instagram.
9. What is the current status of A&F – its merchandise assortment, its culture, its leadership and its mission? Visit an A&F store, if possible, to describe the visual aesthetics of the store now as compared to during Michael Jeffries reign as CEO.
This is to be written as a formal report. Be sure your response is written in the APA formatting style, is free of grammatical and spelling errors, and addresses all of the above concerns. There is a minimum 1000 words count on this assignment.
A minimum of 10 reputable sources are required. Acceptable resources include, but are not limited to:
• Databases from Libraries
• Business periodicals
• National Retail Federation
• Business of Fashion
• Women’s Wear Daily
• Trade Associations
Unacceptable sources include:
• Wikipedia
• Blogs
• X (Twitter)
• Instagram
• Facebook
