Drawing strength from its distinctive British heritage dating from its founding in 1856, Burberry was a leading global brand. In 2018, Interbrand placed the company in its The top 100 (one spot ahead of Prada), noting commitment, authenticity, and consistency as leading strengths and valuing the brand at approximately $5 billion. The company's ability to attract talent was intricately linked to this strong brand heritage, with Marketing Director Isabel Dunbar noting her strong personal interest in being part of a company that "put real British creativity into the world in a useful and inspirational way."
Cultural Strengths
The virtues of the Burberry culture were articulated strongly across functional areas and levels of experience. Many within Burberry spoke of a strong "people culture" in which collaboration was the norm, with individuals and teams regularly willing to "role up their sleeves" and go beyond their remits. Some employees noted an entrepreneurial culture, despite the organisation's large global footprint. Flexibility and openness also emerged as traits found across groups. Director of Design Maureen Witojo commented:
It’s different from other design companies. The way the design team works is very democratic. We have young designers working but we all work together. We have hierarchy, but then we have a very open-minded system when it comes to design, and when it comes to merchandising and to product development.
Toward Efficiency
A consistent shortcoming of the organizational culture many within Burberry perceived was a lack of formal systems and processes to ensure organizational efficiency. Accordingly, a "showtime" mentality emerged whereby teams across the organization displayed an uncanny ability to deliver strong results against short deadlines. Notwithstanding this admirable quality, a recent engagement-data survey suggested room for improvement in operational efficiency — a high priority moving forward.
CFO EMEIA Richard Kessel spoke of the need to achieve "a gentle balance on many fronts," given the imperative to run a large organization smoothly while also honoring the creative process so integral to a design company. "I think that is one of our challenges. You're trying to run a large organization in a structured, organized way — but equally you don't want to impinge on the design and creativity" at play within Burberry.