Purpose -Employing the qualitative method, this paper sets out to investigate the role and function of flagship stores as a market entry mechanism employed by luxury fashion retailers. Design/methodology/approach -The paper employs an interpretive research position, utilising qualitative techniques in the form of semi-structured interviews with élite informants. In total, 12 luxury fashion retailers form the empirical focus of the work. Findings -The paper identifies the defining characteristics of luxury retailers' flagship stores. It finds that luxury flagship stores represent a strategic approach to market entry that is employed to support, enhance and develop distribution activities within a foreign market. The interdependence of flagship stores and the wholesaling method of distribution is highlighted. The importance of the flagship store in reinforcing and enhancing the retailer's luxury status and enhancing and maintaining relationships not only with customers but also with distribution partners and the fashion media is found to be significant. Practical implications -The paper provides practical information to luxury retailers on the role and importance of flagship stores as a method of entering international markets. Originality/value -Flagship stores are a pivotal aspect of any luxury fashion retailer's internationalisation strategy. For the first time in the literature, the paper provides insights into their form and function and an understanding of why they are crucial to the international development of luxury retailers despite their prohibitively high cost.
Purpose -The over-arching purpose of this research is to explore the issue of supplier management within the context of fast-moving fashion retailing. Design/methodology/approach -Qualitative research utilising key informant interviews was used.Findings -The research suggests that retailers may adopt a multi-tiered approach, whereby dynamism and responsiveness are achieved through only partially agile supply chains. Practical implications -Based on the nature of the qualitative data, the paper provides useful insight into the mechanism by which retailers may balance the need for customer responsiveness with the need for operational and financial viability. Originality/value -The research highlights the need for the establishment of relationships, the benefits of developing a networked approach, and suggests three distinct stages for a multi-staged approach.
Reflexivity is fundamental to qualitative health research, yet notoriously difficult to unpack. Drawing on Wilfred Bion's work on the development of the capacity to think and to learn, I show how the capacity to think is an impermanent and fallible capacity, with the potential to materialize or evaporate at any number of different points. I use this conceptualization together with examples from published interview data to illustrate the difficulties for researchers attempting to sustain a reflexive approach, and to direct attention toward the possibilities for recovering and supporting the capacity to think. I counter some of the criticisms suggesting that reflexivity can be self-indulgent, and suggest instead that self-indulgence constitutes a failure of reflexivity. In the concluding discussions I acknowledge tensions accompanying the use of psychoanalytic theories for research purposes, and point to emerging psychosocial approaches as one way of negotiating these.
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