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6
Webpages:
www.inwear.com www.kglteater.dk
www.denmarkfashion.com/index.php?D=1156 http://www.reneesimonsen.de/
www.oem.dk
www.ungdoms-kultur.dk www.danishfashioninstitute.dk
www.iccompanys.com
www.mezzaninkapital.dk : Bruuns Bazaar : Styr på væksten med ekstern ekspertise
Appendix 1 – Discussion of Field Appendix 2 – Dimensions of Logics Appendix 3 – The function of Brands Appendix 4 – Stakeholders
Appendix 5 - The Four Theories of Science Investigation Paradigms Appendix 6 - Observation, Before, During and after the Interviews Appendix 7 - Schedule for Fashion Show Observations
Appendix 8 – Coding Example: Logics in Period 1 (1950-1987) Appendix 9 – Pragmatics
Appendix 10 - The Fashion Field in the Textile, Clothing and Apparel Value Chain Appendix 11 – Interview with Marie R. Melchior
Appendix 12 - The Danish Fashion Industry in the Pre-war Period Appendix 13 – The Quality Mark
Appendix 14 - The Youth Culture in London in the Sixties Appendix 15 – Interview with Lotte Freddie
Appendix 16 – Interview with Thomas Valbo Appendix 17 – Interview with Jesper Mathiesen Appendix 18 – Textile 1980, Bertil Jardorf Appendix 19 – Textile 1988
Appendix 21 - The Business Structure/ Concept House Appendix 22 - Distribution Channels
Appendix 23 - The New Flexible Structures
Appendix 24 – Textile end of the 1990’s, Chief & Editor Appendix 25 - The Myth in the Danish Fashion Industry Appendix 26 – Power Point Presentation from InWear Appendix 27 – Movements in Wholesale Customer Base Appendix 28 – Organisational Structure
Appendix 29 – Change in Fashion Expression at InWear Appendix 30 – Positioning Grid
Appendix 31 – Collection Structure Appendix 32 – Structure of Collections Appendix 33 - The FORA Report
Appendix 34 - New Governmental Interest Groups
Appendix 35 – Articles from Cover, Eurowomen and Costume 2008 Appendix 36 - Market Segmentation – Price Based
Appendix 37 – Mail from DAFI Appendix 38 - MOKO Survey
Appendix 39 – The fashion System in the Third Period
Appendix 40 - Schedule for Fashion Show Observations – Rützou, DRC and Malene Birger
Appendix 42 - New Tendencies in Danish Fashion
Appendix 43 - The Interconnectedness between the Fashion Industry and other Supporting Experience Fields
Appendix 44 - IC Companys
Appendix 45 – Sales Performance by Brand 2003/2004 Appendix 46 – Sales Performance by Brand 2004/2005 Appendix 47 – Article from ‘Tøj’, January 2008
Appendix 48 – Interview with Sofie Hansen Appendix 49 – Sales Performance own Brands
Appendix 50 – Telephone interview with Thomas Valbo
Appendix 51 - ‘Design-led and Market-led Segment – The Distinguishing Model’
Appendix 52 – Growth in Sales
Appendix 53 – Fashion Advertising, Shows and Fairs Appendix 54 – Data Sources and Triangulation Appendix 55 – Legitimation Strategies
Appendix 56 – The Interrelation between Legitimacy, Reputation & Status Appendix 57 – Core Actors in the Analysis
Appendix 58 - Article from Costume 2008
The definition of the field did not get as central a focus until the literature on neo institutionalism emerged, DiMaggio and Powell already in 1983 proposed their definition of organisational field: “Those organization that, in the aggregate, constitute a recognised area of institutional life: key suppliers, resource and product, costumer, regulatory agencies, and other organizations that produce similar services and products” (p. 64-65). The development of field definition in the neo institutional research became evolved more around the processes between the actors. Thus, the literature somewhat began with the definition proposed by DiMaggio and Powell, which considers the relationship factor between the actors but not the processes. In 1994, Scott proposed a definition that involved interaction and shared meaning systems between the communities of organisations. Bourdieu (1990) took the definition a bit further and both incorporated the impact the effect of the field had on the actors and the processes between the actors. Fligstein’s (1997) notion of field introduced yet another perspective in the definition of field: “It is the combination of preexisting rules, resources and the social skills of actor that work to produce fields in the first place, making them stable on a period to period basis and produce transformation” (p.20). Hence, the social skills of the actors are introduced to influence the field, furthermore, he argues that a field is not consistent and changes from period to period and thus, plays with the notion of change. In his work with environmentalism and the U.S. chemical industry, Hoffmann (1999) also focus on the notion of change in the field, as he states that field formation is not a static process, however it stems from the belief that a field forms around a central issue of debate. Thus, Hoffmann argues that within the field the aspect of power arises based on those actors that voice their opinion most loudly within the field. He also builds on the conception from DiMaggio (1983) that the structure of the field should be analysed based upon the interaction, information load and common debate among organisations. A more contemporary view on field emphasises “relational spaces”, where the focus has moved from field outcome to the creation of an understanding of the significance of field-level action (Greenwood et al., 2008). Greenwood et al.
(2008) states that by situating field as a meeting place the focus of the literature is brought back to the core concepts of development and change of “collective rationality”, rather than the impact it has on the field. Continues change is one of the important characteristics of field, as actors within the field struggle to gain authority and define logics. Field boundaries are defined based on cognitive conception based on member’s perception of the actors inside the field and thus is symbolic in nature (Wedlin, 2006).
1
The dimension content seeks to examine the social construction of a specific belief system as it is understood by the field members. Friedland and Alford (1991) underlines that “Without content – that is, the distinctive categories, beliefs, and motives created by a specific institutional logic – it will be impossible to explain what kind of social relations have what kind of effect on the behavior of organizations and individuals” (Cited in Scott, 2001, p. 139).
The second dimension penetration identifies the degree of depth the logic constitutes in a given field (vertical depth), varying in degree in terms of its origins in the field, i.e. if it has been there from the beginning, it would be very deeply rooted.
Linkage concerns the extent to which the logics are linked to other belief system horizontally.
Furthermore, linking arguments to existing logics helps obtain support and legitimacy.
Finally, a field varies according to the degree of exclusiveness, as it can either be dominated by one coherent set of beliefs, or secondary logics competing for support, or multiple conflicting beliefs systems (Scott, 2001).
Power and Hauge (2008) propose that brands can function in several different ways, both at firm and sector levels. First, brands can be utilised to differentiate products and thus, in markets that are crowded, it is important to differentiate products from others. Secondly, to take focus away from the success of individual products and emphasise the values that are not product specific and brand building can function as a risk management strategy. Consequently, “Brands allow firms to retain some level of cohesiveness at the same time that their products and product focus are changing and morphing” (Power &
Hauge, 2008, p. 127). The third function concerns gaining economies of scale in relation to marketing and promotion by focusing on brands, rather than on each product. Brands may assist firms in diversifying into new markets and products groups, which is the fourth function of brands.
As the fifth function, brands that are well established can create a shield where organisational flexibility and change are both encouraged and covered. This is particularly relevant within the creative industry, as brands may not develop in relation to a specific firm, but as a loosely coupled and flexible combination of people working on a project (the motley crew property (Caves, 2000)).
The last function covers how brands can facilitate alliances and corporations between firms. Recent examples have been found, in the fashion industry, were brands from different segments are co-branded in order to create synergies (Power & Hauge, 2008).
1
The Copenhagen Business School can be said to be a stakeholder in two different ways.
Firstly, the school as an organisation is interested in getting the students to graduate as soon as possible, in order to receive the government support they are entitled to. Thus, the Copenhagen Business School have set up various measures to guide and help the students, such as the pamphlet called “Survival Kit” with the most important things to know when writing a master thesis. This has affected the thesis in terms of overall guidelines. The school has employed a new system, where the students are given six months to complete the thesis. This affects the thesis by setting a time constraint on the collection of empirical data and the writing process, thus choices relating to this matter has been made by the writers. The Copenhagen Business School has also affected the thesis in terms of the frames established for the overall topics, in that they have set the parameters for what the education, in this connection Cand.Soc (CBP), consists of. Secondly, the Copenhagen Business School provides a supervisor to counsel the students during the making of the thesis. This has affected the thesis by sharpening the focus, making choices as to literature, theoretical application and empirical data.
The Copenhagen Business School and the supervisors main interest in the thesis’s outcome is presumably that the students have completed the task of answering the problem statement in a methodological appropriate way, by utilising the theoretical application and empirical data accordingly.
Conversely, InWear and IC Companys main interest in the thesis is most likely the outcome of the research, as the thesis sets out to investigate possible scenarios of how InWear’s repositioning of the brand is influenced. InWear and IC Companys have a stake in the project as they made employees available for interviews and thus spend time and money. In this connection, InWear and IC Companys can use this process to gain information relating to their brand or as a promotion tool for the company. The cooperation with the company affects the thesis in terms of the specific employees they make available for interview and thus, the information we are able to obtain about the company and the processes. Furthermore, as we apply an abductive approach to the work processes in the thesis, the nature of the problem statement is created in cooperation with the company. The use of the abductive approach will be explained in chapter 3.
As the thesis not only concerns InWear and IC Companys but also the Danish fashion industry several stakeholders are found here. In terms of affecting the thesis, the choices made with
perception of reality. Several experts have been utilising, such as Marie R. Melchior, Danish Fashion Institute and Fashion journalist Lotte Freddie from Dagsbladet Børsen.
We as writer of this thesis are also considered as stakeholders. Our stake in thesis is to conclude our education and hopefully in a successful manner. The thesis is affected by us in many ways, which among others include our educational background with a Bachelor Degree in Marketing and Management Communication from Aarhus School of Business. The thesis is of cause also affected by the choices that have been made in terms of structure, theoretical application, and empirical data. In relation to this, the thesis is ultimately a product of how the writers perceive the world and issues relating to it.
1
The understanding of the concept paradigm can cause confusion. Guba (1990) has defined paradigm as; “A basic set of beliefs that guides action, whether of the everyday garden variety or action taken in connection with a disciplined inquiry” (p. 17). Guba proclaims in The Paradigm Dialog from 1990 to belong to a group of theorist who think that the philosophical branch of constructivism is overall the right way to view science of knowledge. Thus, Guba can be said to be a biased source within this area.
Even though, Guba might seem predisposed in this matter, this is however, not the reason why we have chosen Esterberg’s definition of paradigm. We think that Guba’s definition of paradigm is too broad and hence, we have chosen to focus on Esterberg’s (2002) definition, which reads as follows;
“Paradigms are not provable….They are, essentially, matters of faith. But paradigms shape the methodological choices you make and the relationship you see between theory and data.”
Guba’s paradigms move on a continuum varying from a realistic ontological and objective epistemological point view to a realivistisk ontological and subjective epistemological point of view.
This is illustrated in figure 2 below:
Source: Guba (1990)
Positivsm Post-Positivsm Critical theory Constructivism
Realistic ontology Objective epistemology
Relativistic ontology Subjective epistemology
Jesper Mathiesen
In accordance with our approach we initially conducted an interview, with Jesper Mathiesen who is Creative Shared Services/Group Marketing Director at IC Companys. We chose to make the interview semi structured in order to explore the possibilities for collaboration, which lead to a collective establishment of a possible research area. Initially, we prepared an extensive interview guide (appendix 1), with detailed questions and numerous follow up questions. In order to get a more conversation like interview we summarized the overall topic for the interview, this lead to a more open conversation allowing the interviewee to present alternative ideas. Initially, we started the process of writing the thesis by identifying subject areas which we were interested in. The subject areas were legitimacy and identity. As we wanted to see if these subject areas were relevant in connection with IC Companys, we created the interview guide containing three main topics; multibrand platform, marketing and market.
Before doing the interview, we did some research on Jesper Mathiesen on the company’s website, which provided us with a short profile and photo of him. From this we could read that he had an economic educational background, furthermore we could see a photo of him dressed in a suit. This gave us the impression of a professional and formal workplace with a focus on economics and therefore we felt dressing formal for the interview would be most appropriate.
We wanted to signal professionalism in the way we perceived IC Companys viewed looking professional and thus dressed formal. Nevertheless, when we meet Jesper Mathiesen at IC Companys headquarters, he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. This came as a surprise and changed our perception somewhat of Jesper Mathiesen. Even though our perception has changed based on his attire, in the conversation we had with him, he did however often mention economic issues.
The interview with Jesper Mathiesen led to a possible focus on InWear as a research area. Jesper Mathiesen established contact to InWear which led to our next interview at IC Companys with Thomas Valbo, Marketing Group Manager at InWear. This can be referred to as snowball sampling (Esteberg 2002).
The interview with Marie R. Melchior was conducted to gather information relating to the stakeholders in the Danish Fashion Industry, the general processes and the historical
development. We consider Marie R. Melchior an expert within the field as she has done extensive research on the Danish Fashion Industry and published a fair amount of articles on the subject.
Furthermore is Marie R. Melchior in the final stages of finishing her Phd. on the matter. In order to attain factual information and her experience and perception on the topics, we conducted a semi-structured interview. By using the semi-structured interview style, the interview was very conversation which led Marie R. Melchior to express her own opinions and point of views. The interview was structured by five overall topics, follow-up questions was however not prepared in advance but was made as interview went along. This was done in order not to limit the depth of information we were potentially able to gain from Marie R. Melchior.
As we had meet Marie R. Melchior before at a seminar on fashion clusters, we were familiar with her appearance with seem somewhat similar to our own style and thus we did not put too much consideration in the choice of clothing we wore at the interview. Marie R. Melchior was
recommended to us by Lise Skov, who is a teacher at CBS. Lise Skov held the seminar on fashion cluster were we first met Marie R. Melchior. The sampling method use in this case is based on snowball sampling.