Third Party Stakeholders: The Key To Coopetition Strategies In The Ready-To-Wear Sector?

As well as a reputation for a singular life-style, France has an international reputation in the imagination of consumers for clothing design and Haute Couture. Paris and even Marseilles are considered creative strongholds, not-to-be-ignored forums for the most famous fashion designers. The ready-to-wear industry plays a particularly important role in the economic, social and cultural world of our society. Yet it is undoubtedly the most uncertain business sector in that everything hinges on an element that is by its nature risk bearing: fashion. Under these conditions, which strategies are appropriate for coping with rapid product renewal? Are enterprises interested in cooperating in order to cope with market instability? If we take it as axiomatic that collective strategies exist in the ready-to-wear sector, a new question arises: are collective strategies part of a global approach in a given sector, coordinated at every level of the industry or, on the contrary, are they restricted to just a few organisational processes? A study of the industry shows the existence of a coopetition situation: both individual and collective strategies that exist within a single industry. In other words, competition and cooperation are relationship models that coexist, sometimes at levels that differ from those observed in other sectors. This paper highlights in particular the role played by third party stakeholders such as syndicates and style agencies, which may be viewed as orchestrators of the implementation of collective action in a highly competitive environment.