Portuguese shoes

: the sexiest industry in Europe : a repositioning strategy towards changing the perception of Portuguese footwear : a brand´s perspective

Abstract

The Portuguese footwear industry is one of the most dynamic sectors in the country and has progressing steadily. Nonetheless, the industry has faced in the past decades, the challenge of aligning its image to the strategic positioning of the sector. This thesis revolves around the study of the Portuguese footwear industry and its image repositioning strategy as well as, the understanding of how an emergence luxury brand within this industry has been able to craft an intelligent marketing strategy, affirming its competitiveness among the international elite through a wellthought positioning strategy. Through this example students, readers and academics will be able to get an inside scoop of the industry and understand the underlying drivers and challenges of an industry´s image repositioning strategy whilst surrounded by the distinctive specificities of the current economic environment. The outcome of this study has yielded mainly two conclusions: The Portuguese footwear industry has evolved tremendously yet, it still faces a challenge in aligning its image to match the already excellent reputation Portuguese shoes have in terms of quality. Furthermore, the perceived value of the "Made in Portugal” brand is still not identified amongst consumers as a value added feature in Portuguese shoes. The Portuguese footwear industry is currently confronting such challenges and is indeed moving towards a fully integrated communication strategy, which aligns its excellent quality products to a sophisticated, luxurious image.

Date of Award	16 Feb 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Pedro Manuel Amador Rodrigues Celeste (Supervisor)