Internship Report - Apex Footwear Ltd. PDF

Working Report on Apex Footwear Ltd.
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Company profile
Apex Footwear Ltd. (AFL) business operations initiated on January 04 1990 and were listed on
Dhaka Stock Exchange on November 7, 1993 (About us, 2017). Apex means ‘the peak’ or ‘the
zenith’. The 2 decade journey started from the inspiration of leather business and later expanded
into shoe making. As the largest shoemaker in the subcontinent, AFL holds 15% share of leather
footwear export in Bangladesh amounting to a massive $1.1 billion leather export. AFL employs
approximately 5500 workers, most of whom are female contributing to produce stylish leather
shoes. AFL shoe designs are inspired by latest international footwear trend. The influence is then
converted to sophisticated leather shoes by in-house Italian & Taiwanese designers. AFL also
desires to be a role model in developing people and helping environment. AFL believes in
valuing people through continuous development & making a path for higher achievements (Apex
Footwear Limited unit-1: shoe-maker to the world, 2017).
Apex – Through the Ages
As per (Hossain & Haider, 2011) Apex Footwear was first

established by Mr. Syed Manzur Elahi, the chairman of the Apex
group. Apex Footwear Limited collaborated with Adelchi- an
Italian company and changed the name to Apex Adelchi Footwear
Limited (AAFL), initiating a joint venture with a new business
spirit. AAFL has equity, technical and marketing participation
from La Nuova Adelchi one of the largest footwear manufacturers
of Italy. AFL today has achieved full compliance with Corporate
Fig 1: Mr. Syed Governance Compliance Report under section 2CC of Securities
Manzur Elahi,
Exchange Commission Notification Order (Hossain & Haider,
Chairman AFL
2011). Over the years AFL has won a plethora of awards briefly
described as follows:
Macy’s 5 Star Award 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015: In recognition of the continued
support and outstanding service in the development of Macy’s private brands and labels,
Apex has won the Macy's 5 Star Award for 6 consecutive years (Recognition, 2017).
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WRAP Gold Certification: Apex Footwear Limited achieved its WRAP Gold certification in
2012. Apex is the first leather footwear company in Bangladesh achieved WRAP
certification. The certification is valid till August 4, 2017. Tannery unit is also included
under the umbrella of this certificate (Recognition, 2017).
The UN Global Compact: The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for
businesses that are committed to aligning with ten universally accepted principles for human
rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. Apex Footwear Limited is an active supporter
of the UN Global compact since 2007 (Recognition, 2017).
Compliance Certification by Business Social Compliance Initiative: Apex is in compliance
with the BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) standard since 2009. The recent
evaluation on new BSCI standard was conducted in May 2016 and is valid till April 2017
(Recognition, 2017).
SEDEX Compliance: SEDEX commonly known as Suppliers Ethical Data Exchange is a
standard for social accountability for workers’ rights. Apex is in compliance with the
standard since March 2015 (Recognition, 2017).
Dun & Bradstreet Rating Agency Award as one of Bangladesh’s top 500 Companies
(Recognition, 2017)
MCCI Centenary Award (Recognition, 2017)
Bangladesh Business Awards-2002 to Mr. Syed Manzur Elahi as the Business Person of the
year (Recognition, 2017)
National Export Trophy - Silver 1991-1992 (Recognition, 2017)
National Export Trophy - Gold 1993-1994 (Recognition, 2017)
AFL aims to sustain its success of being the market leader in both local and foreign markets and
simultaneously strive to establish a social footprint through its regular CSR projects. AFL plans
to invest big in developing the people capacity of its organization and hence create a competitive
workforce that would contribute to ensure the success of AFL in the long run (Ahmed, 2017).
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1.1.1 Vision, Mission and Values of AFL
As per (About us, 2017) AFL continues to reach for the vision of
‘Honest Growth’
As per (About us, 2017) the mission of AFL is
• To ensure sustainable growth

• To be a vendor of choice for our customers
• To create value for our shareholders
• To be proactively compliant with
• Global best practices & standards
• To be a responsible corporate citizen
AFL strives to achieve its goal through maintain the following values (About us, 2017).
Respect for
Integrity
People
Empowerment Courage
Fig 2: Values of AFL

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1.1.2 Corporate Divisions and Departments of AFL
AFL registered head office is situated in House No. 06, Road No. 137 Block - SE(D), Gulshan-1
Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh (Company profile, 2017)
Fig 3: AFL Head Office Location
Currently, Apex has 13 showrooms in Dhaka North, 20 showrooms in Dhaka South, 18

showrooms in Dhaka Central, 9 showrooms in Comilla, 10 showrooms in Mymensingh, 23
showrooms in Chittagong, 17 showrooms in South Bengal, 20 showrooms in North Bengal and
12 showrooms in Sylhet (Find us, 2017).
The Factory is situated in Chandra, P.S. Kaliakoir Dist. Gazipur Bangladesh (Company profile,
2017) for both local manufacturing and export.
Fig 4: Apex Factory Location Fig 5: AFL Factory4 | P a g e

1.1.3 Details of the Product Lines and Services of AFL
As per the official website (Apex Footwear

products, 2017) AFL manufactures Ago
Cemented Leather shoes. The upper
portions of the shoes are made of leather
derived from cows, buffaloes, goats or
sheep. The lining of the shoes are generally
leather, synthetic or textile. The outsole is
made out of TPR, PU or rubber.
Product Category
As per (Our brands, 2017) AFL specializes

Fig 6: Shoe Collections of AFL
in the following category of products
• Men’s: In men’s section AFL produces formal or dress shoes. It also makes boots,
sandals and shoes for casual occasions.
• Ladies: For ladies AFL makes both boots and long boots
• Children: AFL makes dress shoes, boots and sandals for children
• AFL also makes men and women moccasins
AFL also carries a variety of top class international brands. For men, AFL carries different forms
of shoes, boots, athletic shoes and formal or casual shoes from Venturini, Sprint and Maverick
(Our brands, 2017). All products can also be availed through AFL online store in their website.
Fig 7: AFL Brand Affiliations for Men’s Products
For women, AFL carries shoes such as boots, heels, casual sandals from Moochie, Nino Rossi,
and Sandra Rosa (Our brands, 2017).
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Fig 8: AFL Brand Affiliations for Ladies Products
For children, it carries party shoes to school shoes from Twinkler and School Smart (Our brands,
2017).
Fig 9: AFL Brand Affiliations for Children’s Products
From Dr. Mauch, AFL carries therapeutic shoes designed

with 5 zones reflex zone bed technology invented by Dr.
Mauch. Furthermore, AFL also sells accessories ranging
Fig 10: Dr. Mauch Brand from socks, bags to shoe care products (Our brands,
2017). Apart from the product, customers can also visit the AFL website online and view all the
products through its online membership service (Ahmed, 2017).
Fig 11: Brand Display of AFL
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1.1.4 Operational Details
Factory Area of AFL (Factory Area, 2017)
SL Section/Building Capacity in Pairs/Day Area in SFT.
01. Cutting 22,000 25,000
02. Sewing 22,000 78,000
03. Lasting 20,000 46,000
Total 64,000 1,49,000
Table 1: AFL Factory Area
Capacity of AFL (Capacity, 2017)
• 20,000 Pairs of Complete shoes per day.

• Machinery - Imported from Germany, Italy & Taiwan
• Product Development - CRC Italy & Asia
• Leather Development in own Tannery
• 5860 trained factory workers
AFL has the following In House Facilities (In house facilities, 2017)
• TPR Sole molding Plant

• Components (Insole, Counter & Toe puff) plant
• Cutting Dies Plant
• Leather Finishing Plant
• Effluent Treatment Plant
• Drinking Water Purification Plant
• Bonded warehouse
• Full Standby Power Supply
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• Medical Centre and child care

• Training facilities
Cutting Department (Capacity, 2017)
Covered Area 25,000 sft.

Cutting Machines 104 no.s
Cutting Capacity 20,000 Prs/day
Cutting Manpower 494+16 Persons
Table 2: AFL Cutting Department Capacity
Sewing Department (Capacity, 2017)

Sewing Line 16 lines x 2 shift
Sewing Capacity 20,000 Prs/day
Sewing Manpower 2550 +60 Persons
Table 3: Sewing Department Capacity
Some of the key strength factors of AFL are (Strenghts, 2017):
• Bonded warehouse license enable us to import any material from anywhere in the world Duty
free for re-export
• Sourcing Knowledge & experience with Long term relationships with the Global leaders in
Shoe components from Italy, Germany, Taiwan, India.
Machinery & Spares (Strenghts, 2017)
CIURLI S.r.l, Italy (Machinery & Spare Parts)CERIM,IRONFOX,ATOM,GOLDEN WHEEL
Moulds & Sole (Strenghts, 2017)
Technomac S.r.l , Italy (Sole Mould),Top Fondi S.r.l, Italy (Out Sole), Enkay Taiwan.
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Components (Strenghts, 2017)
Texon International, Germany (Insole Board) Lederfars ereverk Stoff GmbH, Germany
(Counter) Anteres S.r.l, Italy (Counter) Forestali, S.r.l, Italy [Toe puff Sheet ] F. Lli Bartoli S.p a,
Italy (Shank board) Baco Metallic Industry, India (Stee) Shank)
Welt & Lace (Strenghts, 2017)
Nouovo Stringhificio Salentino, Italy (Shoe Lace) Proter S.r.l, Italy (Welt)
Chemicals & TPR (Strenghts, 2017)
Kenda Farben S.p.a , Italy (Finishing Chemicals) Kezal-Mar S.r.l, Italy (Varnish] Essebi S.r.l ,
Italy [Rod Cement Polymide) ADB, Thailand (Adhesive& TPR) Chandra Chemical Industries,
India. (Adhesive).
Thread & Linings (Strenghts, 2017)
Thread India Pvt. Ltd, India (Thread) Optima Footwear Company Ltd, Taiwan (Interlinings)
Versatile, India
Price labels and Barcodes (Strenghts, 2017)
Checkpoint, Europe Avery Dennison, Europe James & Alice, Taiwan (Composition Labels)
Technology
AFL have adopted (Technology, 2017)
• Global Standards of Footwear Production

• Best current practices to ensure Quality Footwear.
• Ultra Violet Drying Tunnels, Micropak systems and Humidity controls in production and
warehouse.
• Up-to-date product content & restriction standards. including
• Chrome VI, PCP,Formaldehyde, Lead,VOC testing.
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Their productions lines are set up with
• Cerim Lasting Machines;

• Mollina Lasting Machines;
• Main Group Sole Moulding machines;
• Matic Counter Molulding machines;
• Iron Fox Sole Press Machines;
• Atom Cutting Machines;
• Pfaff Stitching Machines
• Golden Wheel Stitching Machines
• Saggita Eyelet Machines
1.1.5 Philanthropic Activities/CSR of AFL
AFL has conducted the following philanthropic activities (CSR Social Compliance, 2017)
• Apex Footwear Limited as a part LFMEAB donated Tk. 5m for the medical treatment of
the survivors of Rana Plaza Tragedy at Savar. & through its sister concern Apex Pharma,
it also donated Tk. 150,000 worth of medicine for the victims.
• Formed Board level CSR Committee with allocated budget
• Provided stipend to the local school children for their education
• Co-Sponsored “Knowledge Centre” by Bangladesh Brand Forum.
• Participated in Beautification Program of Farm Gate Area of Dhaka.
• Donated for Flood, Cyclone victims.
• Sponsored first ever Industry Centre of Excellence for Leather (COEL), first of its kind in
Bangladesh.
AFL also provided the following services for the employees (CSR Social Compliance, 2017)
• Medical care facilities inside the Factory

• Free Immunization for children of employees
• Free Tetanus vaccination for all female workers
• Child care facilities
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• Group Life Insurance Policy for all workers

• Workers Profit Participation Fund
For the environment AFL has (Environment & compliance, 2017)
• Achieved “Green” category clearance by Department of Environment

• Conducted Greening of Factory premises Pollution free Environment
• Moving towards VOC free products in process
Fig 12: CSR/Philanthropic Activities of AFL
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Chapter 2: Internship Experience/Observation Details
2.1 Job Responsibilities
During my internship period, I was assigned to the marketing department and worked for almost
all the functions of the marketing team. My job responsibilities are as follows:
Branding activities of new products: I was assigned the responsibility to supervise the
branding initiatives of the brand Sprint, when they introduced new line of shoes. My task was to
execute the initial branding activities of Sprint. Moreover, I was assigned the task to design and
place Table Top promotional materials in different stores for the new shoes of Sprint. I
composed the content and feature of the shoes and ensured the design and creation of the
promotional material on time and proper placement in all stores the new product.
Placing posters for wholesale partners: I was also designated to design promotional posters for
wholesale partners. Whenever there was a new product, offer or promotion, I would compose the
necessary content and get the posters designed and placed appropriately, and so wholesale
partners are aware of the activities of AFL and can manage their business with us accordingly.
Newsletter launching: I was involved with the team to create a marketing newsletter for
customers. The newsletter focused on AFL promotions for Valentine’s Day and Women’s day. I
was given the responsibility to make the content for the promotional offers and assist in the
overall design, layout and release of the newsletter.
Organizing events: I was also involved with the team designated to organize 2 events. The first
event was the Annual Sales Conference which was a program designed to appreciate and engage
all sales representatives and sales team of AFL. The other event was the Annual Family Picnic at
Nandan Park. On both occasions, I was in charge of the internal promotion of these events and
had to ensure the smooth organization and flow of the events.
Meeting coordination: I was in charge of collecting all reports from each function of the
marketing team to be presented on the Coordination Meeting held every Sunday and Thursday.
My responsibility was to prepare all necessary reports and ensure the meeting was held on time
with the presence of all necessary team members. I was also responsible to report the actions and
decisions of the meeting which had to be carried forward to the subsequent meetings.
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Conducting data entry for e-commerce: During my internship, I also got involved in listing
down all relevant products for the e-commerce business of AFL. I would record the relevant and
necessary lists of data for each product and design a system in Microsoft Excel to ensure the data
can be searched, interpreted and used properly by the team.
2.2 Functions of the Department
The marketing department of AFL consisted of the following four functions:
Graphics Team: The graphics team was in charge of creatively designing all promotional and
marketing materials for Apex brand. They were in charge of visual design and size of the
materials so the overall finished products looks great. The graphics team had to interpret the
impact on market Apex wanted to create as a brand and design original designs accordingly to
attract the attention span of customers. (Ahmed, 2017).
Branding: The branding team was in charge of the overall branding strategy of Apex and its
affiliated brands. The branding team brainstormed the long term and short term strategy for AFL
brands in accordance to the sales and branding targets. The branding team would also design
campaigns, events, promotional offers and maintain partner relationships (Ahmed, 2017).
E-commerce: The e-commerce team is an emerging team who has introduced the online store
platform for AFL. The e-commerce team ensures that all the products are listed and displayed
correctly on the website and customers can purchase the products with ease using their online
payment systems. The team was also in charge of ensuring the security of the purchase process
(Ahmed, 2017).
Operations: The operations team was in charge of the on-field execution. Their task was to
survey every retailer, wholesaler, partner areas and location and strategize the best spots to place
the promotional materials of AFL brands. The team would also be involved in negotiations with
local authorities for the placement of the materials and also keep a good relationship with
vendors for the timely execution and release of marketing materials. The operations team also
had to keep in touch with sales team and partners to ensure AFL brands were given priority over
other brands (Ahmed, 2017).
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Chapter 3: Internship Outcome/Issue Analysis
3.1 Challenges and problems faced or identified in the workplace
During my internship period, I identified the following areas in the workplace that required
improvement for better functioning of the team:
Graphics team’s sense of urgency: Marketing team generally runs on deadlines. These
deadlines are put into more focus when marketing campaigns are targeted towards a specific
international or national day. Furthermore, meeting marketing deadlines are important for
competitive purposes. However, campaigns and promotional poster placement are often delayed
mostly due to the delay of the graphics team to design stunning visuals. The graphics team, being
a creative function, generally seems to take more time than usual to create visuals. This leads to
promotional poster placement being delayed and campaign and event dates to be delayed as well.
This is a major challenge which must improve upon to stay ahead of the industry competition.
Lack of communication with visual merchandising team: The visual merchandising is in

charge of creating all sorts of visual accessories for both customers and partners. Often, the
marketing team and visual merchandising team’s activities lose coordination and a sense of
confusion is created within cross functional teams in terms of design and strategy. Hence, the
teams must work on their internal communication to improve their understanding.
Financial budget allocation: Budget is one of the most important elements of a marketing
strategy. However, the AFL marketing team sometimes faces challenges as the limited financial
budget is pulled to other projects. At times, the budget is allocated to a more priority project,
which leads to the marketing team to execute its strategy under a lower budget, ultimately
affecting the campaigns quality and impact on the market.
Another challenge we faced during execution was the approval and arrival of the budget.
Allocation of any amount of budget for a promising marketing campaign required a stream of
signatures from higher authorities, which would often delay the proper execution of the project.
AFL needs to work on these challenges to ensure the marketing team can work with full
empowerment and provide the best quality in the face of stiff competition in the industry.
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Reduced Marketing Budget: Due to the recent orders provided to Hazaribagh tannery to
relocate and creating barriers in their operation (HC asks for list of Hazaribagh tanners by June
13, 2016) has led Apex to face challenges in keeping up with its production rate. This has
affected economies of scale and has resulted in reduced marketing budget forecasts. This will
mean that the AFL marketing team may have to do cost control or reduce number of campaigns
if they want to maintain every campaign quality.
Lack of attendance monitoring: The working hours of AFL have been made very flexible.
Employees have been given enough flexibility to come and go as they please, provided they meet
their business and operational targets. This policy often leads to challenges as individual teams
attendance timing do not match and they hardly find enough time to work together in sync. This
results in missed deadlines and delayed work.
3.2 Analysis of the issue(s) based on relevant theory
Brand Strategy: AFL finds it challenging sometimes when it comes to working together for a
common purpose. Miscommunication and missed deadlines becomes a regular challenge for the
marketing team. One way to explain this occurrence is AFL marketing team must determine and
educate themselves and other departments of their brand strategy. As per (Spacey, 2015), A
brand strategy is a plan to reach a company's goals for a brand such as establishing a position and
identity in the market. The brand strategy will allow all team members to work in sync and
understand the urgency of each task. The brand strategy will also allow the marketing team to
plan their Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).
Integrated marketing communications is a marketing strategy that fuses modern and

traditional marketing strategies with the intention of creating an efficient, reliable tool to convey
a company’s brands to the relevant stakeholders. Integrated marketing strategies have proved to
be a reliable mode of communication because the fusion guarantees that the communication
harnesses optimized utilization of traditional and modern communication methods (Lake, 2016).
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Fig 13: Tools of Integrated Marketing Communications
Brand Perception and Brand Recognition: The successful implementation of IMC will lead to
AFL brands to determine its brand perception and recognition in customer minds. AFL can
conduct a research to find out AFL brands perception in the market and implement campaigns to
strengthen or rectify the perception. Brand recognition is the extent to which the public can
correctly identify products and services by their brand including factors such as logo, color,
slogan or style. In many cases, customers are more likely to choose a brand they have heard of,
even if they know nothing about it (Spacey, What is brand recognition, 2015).
Brand perception is consumers' ability to identify the brand under different conditions, as
reflected by their brand recognition or recall performance (Theories and relevant models about
branding, 2015)
Visual Branding: Another major challenge in AFL is the issue of the graphics team not being
able to deliver on time or sacrifice quality to meet deadline. The graphics team needs to work on
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the theories of visual branding. The graphics team must work on building the correct visual
branding. Some of the aspects of Visual Branding that are important for AFL are:
• Choosing consistent key colors

• Consistent corporate typefaces
• Standard typographic treatments
• Consistent style for images
• Archiving a full library of graphic elements
Educating the graphics team on these aspects will help them understand their expectations better
in the workplace.
Fig 14: Aspects

of Visual
Branding
The internal team must understand the importance of visual branding. As per (Bradford, 2015)
the brands appearance is critical for differentiating itself from its competition. Furthermore, the
consistency in visual identity builds trust among customers, leading to a positive brand
perception and brand image. A well-recognized and trusted brand appearance and identity
promotes the idea that your business is honest and dependable. Thus, it leads to a more consistent
and efficient framework to work with and leads to better brand identity in customer minds.
Strategic Marketing Budget Allocation Model: Another major challenge faced by AFL is the
budget allocation. The marketing team must educate the finance team on how to set marketing
budgets. Generally, it has been observed that accountants and finance departments does not
understand marketing efforts and how it creates value to the organization (Hurley, 2011). The
marketing team budget allocation depends on a popular strategic marketing budget allocation
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model called the Sirius Decisions Marketing Budget Allocation Model (Marketing budgets: the
strategic allocation model, 2017). The model suggests the following ways to allocated budget for
marketing (Marketing budgets: the strategic allocation model, 2017):
• Dividing the marketing budget process into manageable components helps achieve both
clarity and alignment
• Four major sources should drive the allocation of marketing spend:
o Corporate strategy
o Sales goals
o Business unit goals
o Marketing’s own goals
• Organizations that lack a true campaign strategy will find that a lot of their funds are
wasted on disconnected, one-off tactics
Flex-time eligilibility: One reason why people mi-use flex time at AFL because the HR Team
may not have assessed who is eligible for flex time. As per (Flextime: non-exempt & exempt
employees, 2016) flextime should be applicable for all employees understanding that:
• A flextime schedule is not appropriate for all positions, or in all settings, or for all
employees
• A flextime schedule during the probationary period is not advisable because of the need
to clarify job responsibilities, establish relationships with co-workers and clients, and
assess suitability for continued employment
• Employees who have problems with punctuality, attendance, and/or performance, or who
require close supervision, are not good candidates
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3.3 Recommendations
AFL should adapt the following recommendations to reduce the challenges it faces and give AFL
brands the best brand identity.
On-board entire team with the brand strategy: AFL marketing team must ensure that every
member of the organization has a clear understanding of the brand strategy for every brand AFL
carries. The understanding of the strategy will help reduce gaps in communication between the
marketing team and merchandising team. Each individual team will then be able to work towards
enhancing one brand plan and there will be consistency in their way of work. This will also help
the graphics team as they will also have a certain structure in their idea and design generation
process. This will also allow the graphics team to create consistent layout and design while
working for a range of marketing materials when AFL opts for total integrated marketing
communications. Hence, the quality of the marketing materials of AFL will improve and
customers will be more willing to be loyal to Apex and its affiliated brands.
Create visual branding persona: Once a brand strategy has been set, the marketing team can
easily create a visual branding persona. The marketing team can set consistent key colors,
consistent corporate typefaces, standard typographic treatments, consistent style for images and
build an archive of graphic elements. This will massively help the graphics team to reduce the
time to create visual designs and it will help the marketing team in mitigating the challenge of
meeting deadlines for visual output of marketing campaigns and programs.
Utilize Sirius Decision Budget Allocation Model: AFL can adapt the Sirius Decision Budget
Allocation Model while distributing annual budget to the marketing team. The finance team of
AFL can allocate the budget by
• Dividing the marketing budget process into manageable components helps achieve both
clarity and alignment
• Driving budget allocation on the basis of
o Corporate strategy
o Sales goals
o Business unit goals
o Marketing’s own goals
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• Prepare budget for successful execution of different campaigns rather than one off tactics.
These processes can ensure that the finance team understands the goals of the marketing team
and refrain from using the crucial budget in other projects. This will help the AFL marketing
team to utilize the full budget and enhance the outcome of its marketing campaigns.
Organize cross-functional discussions before budget setting: Marketing team must request to
sit down with the finance team before setting the budget. It is important that the marketing team
transparently expresses their challenges regarding the reallocation of marketing budget. This
discussion will ensure that the finance team understands the significance of the marketing team’s
budget requirements and how reallocating can reduce the quality of the campaigns. Thus, this
will ensure that the marketing team can carry out their campaigns without compromising quality
and can attract more customers and solidify its brand image, leading to higher sales for AFL.
Conduct constant research on brand perception: The AFL marketing team must constantly
conduct research to update themselves on how customers perceive the brands they carry. The
research can be structured, unstructured and focus group discussion (FGD) based. The structured
research would provide invaluable data on customers while FGDs would provide insights into
the customer mind. Through constant research, AFL team will be able to better understand how
customers behave and preferences and change their branding strategy accordingly to maintain its
growth both in brand loyalty and sales. It is also important to on-board the entire team on the
updated plans and strategies so the entire team can work in unison and a synergy can be
garnered to ensure AFL marketing team to be a commendable team in its industry.
Chapter 4: Conclusion and Implication
Apex Footwear Limited has high ambitions of becoming one of the most recognized brands in
the shoe industry of Bangladesh. They enthusiastically invest in the marketing of AFL brands.
Hence, if AFL make the best use of its budget through open discussions about its strategy and
implement the best practices of branding in its internal team dynamics, AFL marketing team can
successfully ensure Apex and its affiliated brands to be the most popular shoe brands of the
country in the long run.
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References
About us. (2017). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from Apex Footwear Ltd.:
https://www.apexfootwearltd.com/apex_footwear/About-Us
About us. (2017). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from Apex Footwear Limited:
https://www.apexfootwearltd.com/apex_footwear/About-Us
Ahmed, Z. (2017, March 18). Apex Footwear Limited in the long run. (Sadman, Interviewer)
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identity-when-building-base-ken-bradford
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Recognition. (2017). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from Apex Footwear Ltd. :
https://www.apexfootwearltd.com/apex_footwear/Recognition
Spacey, J. (2015, November 5). What is brand recognition. simplicable .
Spacey, J. (2015, November 5). What is brand strategy. simplicable .
Strenghts. (2017). Retrieved March 25, 2017, from Apex Footwear Limited:
https://www.apexfootwearltd.com/apex_footwear/Strengths
Technology. (2017). Retrieved March 25, 2017, from Apex Footwear Limited:
https://www.apexfootwearltd.com/apex_footwear/Technology
Theories and relevant models about branding. (2015, March 23). UK Essays .
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Appendix
List of Tables
Table 1: AFL Factory Area
SL Section/Building Capacity in Pairs/Day Area in SFT.
01. Cutting 22,000 25,000
02. Sewing 22,000 78,000
03. Lasting 20,000 46,000
Total 64,000 1,49,000
Table 2: AFL Cutting Department Capacity

Cutting Machines 104 no.s
Cutting Capacity 20,000 Prs/day
Cutting Manpower 494+16 Persons
Table 3: Sewing Department Capacity

Sewing Line 16 lines x 2 shift
Sewing Capacity 20,000 Prs/day
Sewing Manpower 2550 +60 Persons
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List of Figures
Fig 1: Mr. Syed Manzur Elahi, Chairman AFL
Fig 2: Values of AFL
Respect for
Integrity
People
Empowerment Courage
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Fig 3: AFL Head Office Location
Fig 4: Apex Factory Location
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Fig 5: AFL Factory
Fig 6: Shoe Collections of AFL
Fig 7: AFL Brand Affiliations for Men’s Products
Fig 8: AFL Brand Affiliations for Ladies Products
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Fig 9: AFL Brand Affiliations for Children’s Products
Fig 10: Dr. Mauch Brand Fig 11: Brand Display of AFL
Fig 12: CSR/Philanthropic Activities of AFL
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Fig 13: Tools of Integrated Marketing Communications
Fig 14: Aspects of Visual Branding
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Working Report on Apex Footwear Ltd.

1.1 Company profile

Apex – Through the Ages

As per (Hossain & Haider, 2011) Apex Footwear was first

1.1.1 Vision, Mission and Values of AFL

As per (About us, 2017) the mission of AFL is

• To ensure sustainable growth

Fig 2: Values of AFL

1.1.2 Corporate Divisions and Departments of AFL

Fig 3: AFL Head Office Location

Currently, Apex has 13 showrooms in Dhaka North, 20 showrooms in Dhaka South, 18

Fig 4: Apex Factory Location Fig 5: AFL Factory4 | P a g e

1.1.3 Details of the Product Lines and Services of AFL

As per the official website (Apex Footwear

As per (Our brands, 2017) AFL specializes

Fig 7: AFL Brand Affiliations for Men’s Products

Fig 8: AFL Brand Affiliations for Ladies Products

Fig 9: AFL Brand Affiliations for Children’s Products

From Dr. Mauch, AFL carries therapeutic shoes designed

Fig 11: Brand Display of AFL

1.1.4 Operational Details

Factory Area of AFL (Factory Area, 2017)

SL Section/Building Capacity in Pairs/Day Area in SFT.

01. Cutting 22,000 25,000

02. Sewing 22,000 78,000

03. Lasting 20,000 46,000

Total 64,000 1,49,000

Table 1: AFL Factory Area

Capacity of AFL (Capacity, 2017)

• 20,000 Pairs of Complete shoes per day.

• TPR Sole molding Plant

• Medical Centre and child care

Cutting Department (Capacity, 2017)

Covered Area 25,000 sft.

Table 2: AFL Cutting Department Capacity

Sewing Department (Capacity, 2017)

Covered Area 78,000 sft.

Table 3: Sewing Department Capacity

Some of the key strength factors of AFL are (Strenghts, 2017):

Machinery & Spares (Strenghts, 2017)

CIURLI S.r.l, Italy (Machinery & Spare Parts)CERIM,IRONFOX,ATOM,GOLDEN WHEEL

Moulds & Sole (Strenghts, 2017)

Components (Strenghts, 2017)

Welt & Lace (Strenghts, 2017)

Chemicals & TPR (Strenghts, 2017)

Thread & Linings (Strenghts, 2017)

Price labels and Barcodes (Strenghts, 2017)

AFL have adopted (Technology, 2017)

• Global Standards of Footwear Production

Their productions lines are set up with

• Cerim Lasting Machines;

1.1.5 Philanthropic Activities/CSR of AFL

• Medical care facilities inside the Factory

• Group Life Insurance Policy for all workers

For the environment AFL has (Environment & compliance, 2017)

• Achieved “Green” category clearance by Department of Environment

Fig 12: CSR/Philanthropic Activities of AFL

Chapter 2: Internship Experience/Observation Details

2.1 Job Responsibilities

2.2 Functions of the Department

The marketing department of AFL consisted of the following four functions:

Chapter 3: Internship Outcome/Issue Analysis

3.1 Challenges and problems faced or identified in the workplace