The Gap Company: Purpose and Mission

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Company Profile

The Gap, Inc. started after its incorporation in 1969 and it has become a global retailer of clothing, accessories and personal care products under the apparel store industry. Its products are uniquely designed and made for men, women, children, and babies and are being marketed under the familiar brands of the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Piperlime, and Athleta brands. Being a global retailer, it has its stores operated in many parts of the world including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and Japan. Gap stores are for casual apparel and products which include accessories and personal care products for men, khakis, fashion apparel and denim. Included also are the Gap Body stores and Gap Outlets with the first dealing with womens underwear, loungewear, sleepwear, and sport and active apparel while the second dealing with similar categories of products.

Old Navy is for adults, children and infants customers who will get satisfied from a selection of apparel, shoes and accessories and other personal care products. Included also under the brand is a line maternity wear. On the other hand, men and women customers are served under Banana Republic and the related Factory Stores under the same brand name for casual and tailored apparel, personal care products and shoes and accessories.

Added to its more than 3,000 stores worldwide are the two online brands available to customers. One is the Piperlime, at www.piperlime.co, and Althleta as its online and catalog store at www.athleta.com. The first provides women, men and kids as customers with various brands in footwear and handbags plus tips, trends and advice on style while the second makes available sports and active apparel and footwear for various women customers. The products for sports activities included those of tennis and yoga, golf and running.¹

The companys 2008 revenues reached $15,763.00 million while it net income for the same year was posted at $833million.² Its stock is presently listed in the New York Stock Exchange with a price of $16.06 per share.³

Company Vision and Mission; Opinion on its clarity, etc.

From its website, the company appears not to have made a clear statement of its mission and vision as compared to other companies. However its 2008 Annual Report has expressed the words Clean, Classic and American Design which were described to be the very same words that have described the company for the past decades and are still being used by the company. These words for all intents and purposes can be taken as rather an indirect statement of the companys identity or vision and mission. In explaining these words to shareholders, Glenn Murphy companys Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer sent the message that they are determined to do their best to inspire their customers with individual style and make classics relevant for the changing times through the use of bold, color, emotional detail and great fits.⁴

It could be asserted that the vision and mission of the company is rather not clear but it would appear that its main purpose is just to continue making the products available to customers in accordance with the words Clean, Classic and American Design.

Its core competencies, main competitors (domestic and worldwide) and Customer segments primarily served.

Core competencies are those that are considered strengths of the company compared to competitors that help the company in achieving competitive advantage or doing better than its competitors.

One core competency could be viewed from its wide reach of customs through its many stores. Its store could be found in many parts of the world which include those in North America consisting of the United States and Canada and those in Europe which include the United Kingdom, France and Ireland. It had also its stores in Asian countries like Korea, Japan. It has entered also into franchise agreements to operate its Gap or Banana Republic stores with franchisees in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Indonesia. It had contracted with other parties to also open stores also in Greece Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania.⁵ With more than 3,000 stores in many part of the world, the same could only ensure easier reach to customers.

The second competency can come from unique and classic American design that persisted over more than 4 four decades in relation with time. This has caused the company to put up strong brands that survived many periods and the company was more than willing to defend its trademark no matter what happened. This has caused the company to use its resources to depend its trademark, which is indicative of strong brand.⁶

Its Banana Republic stores can keep its customer as the products are meant to deliver a more stylish image for an fashionable customers who seek what is modern and accessible luxury using its competency of unique and classic design. While using the same strength a broader demography of customers, the Gap does the thing. Still applying unique and classic design, the Old Navy delights families of younger customer by products designed addresses with excitement and energy through the stores what is meant by fun, fashion with and value by delivering. In other words, its products sell in unique markets due to its capacity to develop multiple formats and designs.⁷

Its main competitors from both domestic and worldwide include The TJX Companies, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc., Nordstrom, Inc. and Luxottica Group S.p.A. (ADR). These companies and companies belong to the top five from the industry in terms of revenues.⁸

The segments primarily served are those that are getting a large share of its familiar brands of Banana Republic, The Gap, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta.⁹

An analytical perspective about the company with original opinion and justified with a clear reasoning

The company is generally better than industry averages all in terms of profitability, efficiency, liquidity and solvency.¹⁰ No wonder its stock price in relation to competitors despite the recession in 2008. This could be proved in terms of price to book ratio of 2.44 in 2009 as against industry ratio of 1.83.¹¹ What would explain such higher than average performance may come from the unique value of its products in relation to competitors. The company appeared to have its stores also in strategic areas thus reaching the customers at their convenience while delivering superior value.

Therefore there is a basis for the company to claim its values more powerful than ever in 2008 and even claimed progress over the previous year in terms of creativity , customers and results which it believes to have simplified tits and is giving the company the needed competitive advantage to sustain its growth. There is also a basis in its plan to invest in more initiatives that will increase more customers and more revenues while delivering more inspiring products while enhancing customers experiences in shopping at the companys stores. Such plans will make use of the companys competencies as discussed earlier in terms of its numerous stores in strategic locations as well its continued unique and classic products.¹² This will be further strengthened by the company plans to improve its sample stores at each brand in its objective to modernize its fleet and improve productivity as it creates unique product varieties for customers.¹³ Since its considers its product as the end game while giving the brand that would match what the customers want in terms of style and color¹⁴ and other value to customers, a company must really make sure that its products will meet what its customers will buy. In so doing the company could further sustain its better profitability, efficiency, liquidity and solvency than competitors.

Works Cited

The GAP, Inc and Others v Kingsgate Clothing (Pty) Ltd and Others[2009] ZAKZDHC 9

Company Profile The Gap. 2009a. Reuters.com. Web.

2008 Financial Statements of The Gap 2009. Reuters.com.

Stock Price of The Gap. 2009, Reuters.com.

2008 Annual Report of GAP, 2009. The Gap.

Company Profile The Gap. 2009a. Reuters.com. Web.

1960s: Commerce, GAP. n.d. Book Rags. 2009.

Rankings. 2009. Reuters.com 2009. Web.

Financial Ratios as Against industry. 2009. Reuters.com. Web.

Footnotes

Company Profile The Gap. 2009. Reuters.com.
2008 Financial Statements of The Gap 2009. Reuters.com.
Stock Price of The Gap. 2009, Reuters.com.
2008 Annual Report of GAP, 2009. The Gap.
Company Profile The Gap. 2009. Reuters.com.
The GAP, Inc and Others v Kingsgate Clothing (Pty) Ltd and Others [2009] ZAKZDHC 9 .
Book Rags. 1960s: Commerce, GAP. n.d. 2009.
Rankings. 2009. Reuters.com 2009.
2008 Annual Report of GAP, 2009. The Gap.
Financial Ratios as Against industry 2009. Reuters.com.
Financial Ratios as Against industry 2009. Reuters.com.
2008 Annual Report of GAP, 2009. The Gap.
2008 Annual Report of GAP, 2009. See above.
2008 Annual Report of GAP, 2009. See above

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The Gap Company: Purpose and Mission

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