The Arcadia Group Limited is a large British retail company that owns several popular high street fashion chains, which are Topshop, Burton, BHS (and Tammy), Dorothy Perkins, Topman, Wallis, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Outfit (this is the only store that is not a clothing brand in its own right, but is an outlet that sells clothing from the other eight stores). This business is owned by Sir Philip Green and his family, who bought it in 2002. As well as the UK, Arcadia has stores in 30 other countries around the world.

[S2] Arcadia Group and its nine stores Organisational Objectives Arcadia’s mission statement is “To provide a unique shopping experience where choice is paramount, by taking a portfolio of successful high street brands to quality retail parks. ” In turn, Arcadia has managed to succeed in becoming a very successful, popular and world-renowned high street retail company. Arcadia also aims to lead in ethical retailing and sustaining the environment, of which is part of their project called Fashion Footprint.

Arcadia takes all these steps to be a top leading retailer in all aspects. [S3] Organisational Structure The Arcadia Group Ltd is a large centralised and market-based organisation that has many people working in different departments, both in the retail stores and in the head offices, which are based in London and Leeds. As a centralised organisation, key functions and major decisions are made at the head offices, and all branches are made sure to operate in the same way.

Key services are centrally controlled, such as administration, human resources, retail operations and finance. It avoids duplicating staff roles and responsibilities, as well as keeping costs down. It can also obtain larger purchasing discounts. [S4] In contrast to a decentralised organisation, central office approval is usually always necessary, decisions are not made as quickly, nor do local and departmental managers have as much decision-making powers, which may make them feel slightly demoralised.

These are a few of the disadvantages that can come with being centralised organisation. Below is a chart that visually displays the general layout of this organisation and its key functions. This is a departmental organisation that is mainly made up of functional roles, as well as responsibilities under store operations. In addition, Arcadia operates geographically, as not only does it operate stores in the UK, but also in many other countries such as Sweden, Malta, USA and UAE. [S5]

Each department would normally have a manager or two, who lead a team of assistants and other staff members. Owner Philip Green has an overall wide span of control, but the chain of command travels down each individual department. The Human Resources team provide assistance in recruitment and training of all staff and management. They work closely with branch managers in order to understand the needs and vacancies of a particular store, and then act appropriately so to fulfil these.

For example, TopShop’s London flagship store in Oxford Street has a very large number of employees working there (in comparison to the average sized TopShop store in a typical high street location). In addition to the generalist HR teams, there are also teams that specialise in Employee Relations, Reward, Resourcing and Management Development. [S12] Part of Arcadia’s great success is due to the high quality of its employers. Sir Philip Green makes sure that the HR teams use thorough policies when recruiting, selecting and training staff.

When looking to recruit new employees, HR like to target school leavers and recent graduates in particular, and use a number of methods to attract people to apply for their jobs, such as career fairs, advertisements and communications in-store. HR also like to encourage internal applications, as current employees already know the nature and culture of the business, and so could well be good candidates for promotion within the company. Selections for employees take part with Arcadia’s Management Trainee Programme, which makes a shortlist of successful online applicants who then move on to an assessment centre.