Shanghai Tang

Course title: Creativity and Business Innovation
Instructor: Professor Ali Farhoomand
Assignment 1
Case study: Managing Creativity at Shanghai Tang
Student Name: Tse Ka Cheuk Derek
University ID: 3035066338
Submission date: 16th September, 2013

Executive summary
Founded in Hong Kong, named as one of a very famous TV Drama, Shanghai Tang is a Chinese brand who takes the lead to sell luxury apparels and accessories, targeting the middle to high income group. Recent reports reveal that Shanghai Tang is having problem in being creative and on the other hand, serving the needs of the market. Conflicts are bred between designers and management levels, both are firm on their stance, creating tensions within the company. Another major issue is the stagnant expansion into China market. Despite promoting of modern Chinese chic, US and Europe serve as the major market while China is a highly potential market with the boost of wealthy citizens. The third issue that needs to be addressed is the limits on Chinese manufacturers constrained designers’ creativity. Aiming to pride the “made in China” tag, however, insufficient of sophisticated machines cannot help avoid manufacturing relatively low-quality products.
In this report, the highlighted issues and recommendations will be addressed in a detailed manner. A clear and step-by-step implementation plan will be provide as well. Suggested solution to solve the imbalance between innovation and profit maximization can be recruitment of a creative director. His/her role is to guide junior designers to fit their designs to real business world while allowing certain degree of freedom for them to create their own art work.
Concerning the problem about the expansion into China market, Shanghai Tang first and foremost task is to know what kind of products that modern Chinese city dwellers need. A brand new product line should be opened to specifically cater the preference of them. Small scale of the line is preferred in this...