Strategic responses of small­sized luxury fashion brands and retailers to covid 19 crisis to maintain their existence in the market

Abstract

Covid 19 crisis caused catastrophic impacts on many sectors and social life in the world. Mostof the states implemented strict policies to reduce the repercussion of the crisis in social andbusiness life. During this uncertain and dynamically changing environment, most of thecompanies tried to survive by using their resources and capabilities. This narrative was notdifferent for the fashion companies. The aim of this study is to understand the strategicresponses of fashion retailers and brands to the major covid 19 crises. In this study, a total of8 interviews were conducted among 4 different fashion brands and retailers. These 4 caseswere analyzed two by two according to the impact of their historical path dependencies on theformulation of their strategic responses to covid 19 crisis. In addition to this, Resource­ basedview and dynamic capabilities approach were used to analyze the overall tactical responses ofthe 4 firms during a crisis environment. The findings of the research indicated that the impactof history and the geographical location of the companies pushed companies to develop adifferent type of strategy. It was found that accessing foreign cash capital, following costminimization strategies, and developing customer networks by the usage of online Omnichannels were the main strategies of 4 cases to survive during the covid 19 crisis.

Date of Award	11 May 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Laure Leglise (Supervisor)