Celine Abecassis-Moedas

Integrating design and retail in the clothing value chain

Purpose – New product design is an established field in the literature. It is either analysed inside the firm; or when using a value chain perspective it is limited to the interactions between manufacturers and suppliers (in producer‐driven commodity chains). The current research adopts a downstream perspective, analysing the relationships between manufacturers and retailers in relation to the new product design process. Seeks to conduct research in the clothing industry; that has the specificity of being a buyer‐driven commodity chain where fashion makes design a key dimension for the success of a product.Design/methodology/approach – The research was empirical in nature, involving 50 semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews in France, the USA and the UK at all points along the clothing value chain.Findings – In the clothing industry, the strategy of integrating design and retail has resulted in a more flexible design process and therefore, in an increased product performance. This strategy has been devel...

Key resources and internationalization modes of creative knowledge-intensive business services : the case of design consultancies

In the ‘knowledge economy’, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) are a key driver for innovation and competitiveness. The internationalization of these businesses raises challenges given their specificities such as knowledge intensity, the importance of customer interaction and intimacy in service delivery. This paper focuses on design consultancies as a specific type of creative KIBS for which these characteristics are emphasized. The objective of this research is to analyse the resources leveraged by the firms to compete internationally. It is based on 11 case studies of design consultancies located in five different countries (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK) that were selected for their capacity to perform at the international level for several years. The paper advances three internationalization modes depending on contingent variables and focusing on specific resources that enable international competitiveness: star-based, process-based and glocality-based. In star-based creative KIBS, the individual designer has developed a reputation that attracts customers internationally, operating as a brand. In process-based creative KIBS, the reputation of a collective creative process attracts clients from other countries. In glocality-based creative KIBS, the geographical proximity obtained by opening international offices helps to develop a close understanding of the client through frequent interactions, and also to know the clients market well and to better understand local codes and signs. These modes complement those presented in the existing internationalization literature which takes the peculiarities of creative KIBS into consideration.

External Design for Reputation, Perspective and Exposure

This paper analyses why and how design‐centred industrial firms with internal design teams contract external designers. This research is based on an exploratory multiple case study methodology, with a sample of five highly reputable design‐centred industrial firms, operating in hypercompetitive industries. While some results challenge the mainstream literature on design management, others expand the existing literature, highlighting that not all firms extract the same benefits from external designers; neither do all external designers bring the same benefits to firms. The paper shows that firms with internal design teams contract external design for (1) reputation (external designers sign products and bring their reputation to the product and to the firm), (2) perspective (external designers bring a different perspective, especially when they come from a different industry from the firm), and (3) exposure (external designers bring exposure that enriches internal design teams).

Drivers and levels of creative leadership: an examination of choreographers as directive and integrative leaders

Abstract Research suggests that when leading creative individuals, leaders are either directive, telling their followers what to do, or integrative, soliciting and incorporating the input of others. However, less is known about what drives creative leadership or what it looks like in context. Using a sample of 20 choreographers we employ a qualitative research methodology to better understand creative leadership. Using pattern coding, we first examine the drivers of directive leadership, and three drivers emerge: perspective, project and preference. Next we unpack integrative leadership, and here three distinct levels emerge: occasional, iterative and continuous. Based on these findings, we propose that future research on creative leadership start to incorporate the views of the leader given our more nuanced take on the drivers of directive leadership and the different levels of integrative leadership.

Factors influencing the integration of external evaluations in the open innovation process: A qualitative study in micro-firms in the creative industries

Purpose Many industries are increasingly affected by or even invite the participation of external stakeholders in the innovation process. The concepts of open innovation use the ideas of external stakeholders to foster innovation and make the firms more competitive. However, little research has considered whether evaluations from external stakeholders also serve as a source for open innovation and, and if so, in which way they are integrated into the innovation process. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore how external evaluations influence the innovation process in the creative industries. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an explorative qualitative study using a mixture of an inductive and deductive research design. The authors interviewed 14 artists in order to understand how external evaluations are integrated in the innovation process. Findings The paper formulates propositions on factors that influence whether and how external evaluations are a resource for the innovation process in micro-firms. The factors are the situation of the individual that is evaluated, the external evaluator’s credibility, the content of the evaluation, and the potential impact of the evaluation on the individual evaluated. Originality/value This paper provides exploratory insights into a so far neglected source of open innovation and its external evaluations in micro-firms in the creative industries.

Shared cluster resources as a source of core capabilities

Literature on clusters acknowledges the existence of resources that are shared by firms in the same cluster. The literature on dynamic capabilities argues that in the context of capability development, firms need to develop different business models and to define their firm boundaries in complementary ways. We use a multiple case study approach to analyse how three small- and medium-sized firms belonging to the same cluster but with different business models have been using cluster resources. We find that the some resources are not used in the same way nor for the same purpose. Our inductive investigation leads to two propositions: shared resources that are used the same way by all the cluster firms are not a source of core capabilities to the firms; and shared resources that are used differently by the firms in the cluster are a source of dynamic capabilities which have an impact on the business model.