Lululemon Case Study

Employees being the pillar of organization, their problems have to be addressed first. While Lululemon perceived and projected their employee relation to be excellent, the truth was far from what it looked. Stokes (2008) has illustrated that Lululemon's business model was based on raising the level of health for their staff and community. But sadly the employees were stressed to maintain positive emotions and also they did not have the freedom to voice their concerns (Beninger et al 2014). Few employees and the brand ambassadors has described Lululemon to be hypocritical, and has manipulated and misused the whole meaning of yoga and Sanskrit phrases. The reason why employees were stressed out was they had to work overtime with no pay just to
Initially the Yoga accessories were a big hit among customers. Eventually though Lululemon has its own quality control, it failed when it marketed its black luon pants because of its sheerness while stretched which was uncomfortable. However Taiwan’s Eclat Textile Co. Ltd stated that they were following Lululemon’s instruction. Competition could have been a reason why it resulted in poor quality as Under Armour and GAP were its threats and it needed to increase the quantity it manufactured and began outsourcing to multiple suppliers (The Motley Fool 2014).
Chritine Day , the CEO then clarified that the quality problem was not because of the production but inadequate testing, which resulted in further analysis that there lacked appropriate oversight in the factories which led to production of the sheer pants (Larcker et.al 2014).Lululemon was also a highlight on the Jimmy Kimmel show, as they aired a spoof of the sheer pants incident and turned the firm into a laughing stock (Shaw
It is important that the spokesperson should keep in mind that he or she is not only addressing the interviewer but a whole lot of people who are watching it. Stating negative comments on media would bring about serious repercussions which will destroy the brand image and sometimes it is irreparable. The founder's comments of plus-sized customers and his controversial statement on fabric pilling of Lululemon’s pants, was due to rubbing through thighs ,negatively impacted the women population who were working at the firm and also the consumers. Lululemon’s founder Mr. Wilson should have concentrated on improving the Brand name while introducing their products rather than issuing controversial statements. Adobe's product director Ms. Stark throws light on this framework called RACI matrix a method applied to mitigate any serious damage through poor PR, one person from the firm will be Responsible and Accountable to answer, Consulted - opinions are sought from experts and lastly keeping the high authorities Informed about the decisions made (Boeri