Collaboration Strategies of Fashion Companies and Customer Attitudes

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Collaboration strategies entail infonnation sharing and other varied fonns of cooperation that are mutually beneficial to the company and stakeholder groups. This study addresses the specific types of collaboration used in the fashion industry while also examining strategies that have been most successful for fashion companies and perceived benefits of collaboration fi'om the customer perspective. In the present study we define
fashion companies and brands as collaborators and their pmtners or stakeholders as collaboratees. We define
collaboration as a cooperative relationship where more than two companies, brands or individuals provide customers with beneficial outcomes utilizing their own competitive advantages on an equal basis. Collaboration strategies entail infOlmation sharing and other varied fonns of cooperation that are mutually beneficial to the company and stakeholder groups. Through collaboration, fashion companies have pursued both tangible differentiation, such as design and technology applications, and intangible differentiation such as emotional
and psychological benefits to customers. As a result, collaboration within the fashion industry has become an
important, value creating concept. This qualitative study utilized case studies and in-depth interview methodologies to examine customers' attitudes concerning collaboration in the fashion industry. A total of 173
collaboration cases were identified in Korean and international markets from 1998 through December 2008, focusing on fashion companies. Cases were collected from documented data including websites and induSl1y data bases and top ranked pOltal search sites such as: Rankey.com; Navel', Dawn, and ate; and representative fashion infonnation websites Samsungdesignnet and Firstviewkorea. Cases were collected between ovember 2008 and FeblUmy 2009. Cases were selected for the analysis where one or more pmtners were associated with the production of fashion products (excluding textile production), retail fashion products, or designer services. Additional collaboration case information was obtained from news mticles, periodicals, intemet portal sites and fashion
inforn1ation sites as conducted in prior studies (Jeong and Kim 2008; Park and Park 2004; Yoon 2005). In total, 173 cases were selected for analysis that clearly exhibited the benefits and outcomes of collaboration efforts and strategies between fashion companies and stakeholders. Findings show that the overall results show that for both partners (collaborator and collaboratee) participating III collaboration, that the major benefits are reduction of costs and risks by sharing resource such as design power, image, costs, technology and targets, and creation of synergy. Regarding types of collaboration outcomes, product/design was most important (55%), followed by promotion (21 %), price (20%), and place (4%). This result shows that collaboration plays an
important role in giving life to products and designs, particularly in the fashion industry which seeks for creative and newness. To be successful in collaboration efforts, results of the depth interviews in this study confinn that fashion companies should have a clear objective on why they are doing the collaboration. After setting the objective, they should select collaboratees that match their brand image and target market,
make quality co-products that have definite concepts and differentiating factors, and also pay attention to increasing brand awareness. Based on depth interviews with customers customer benefits were categOlized into six factors: pursuit fo; individual character; pursuit for brand; pursuit for scarcity; pursuit for fashion; pursuit for economic efficiency; and pursuit for sociality. Customers also placed more impOItance on imao-e 0'
reputation, and trust of brands regarding the cases shown in the interviews.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. Introduction
• II. Literature Review
• III . Research Methods: Qualitative CaseStudies and Depth Interviews
• IV. Results of Case Analysis: Classification ofFashion Col1aboration
• V. Results of Consumer Analysis: Customers' Attitude toward Fashion Collaboration
• VI. Conclusions and Recommendations