Impetus wearable strategy

: competitive advantage in the portuguese fashion industry

Abstract

What is in the origin of the competitive advantage that IMPETUS had been crafting over the past 43 years? The Resource-Based Theory defended that a company can obtain its competitive advantage through the internal organization of its critical resources, though failed to deem the changing environment. In a complementary perspective, defining Dynamic Capabilities as the firm capability to internally and externally combine competencies to meet changing environments came to introduce the external dimension to the organization. IMPETUS, apart from being a Portuguese Group in the textile industry, is also the name of a brand specialist in male underwear. Reaching a total turnover of nearly €41,6 million and relying 95% on international markets, IMPETUS has been standing out in the Portuguese fashion industry. Innovation etched in the genetic code with a twist of diversification in its business areas seem to speak for the differentiation strategy settled during the past years. This dissertation purposes a journey into the company history. Aside from acknowledging which are the differentiation factors that this underwear specialist was capable of setting out, one must analyze its performance to identify what are the resources and capabilities that rely on, indeed, its competitive advantage. In this odyssey, one can deeper understand the elements inherent to this established wearable strategy and its dynamics in the textile changing environment.

Date of Award	15 Feb 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Nuno Cardeal (Supervisor)