Innovation Process in Medium-sized Italian Fashion Firms: A Longitudinal Case Analysis

Attention to technological innovation is focused on the belief that aesthetic innovation can be either facilitated or inhibited within this open innovation setting where limited protection and dynamic knowledge flows occurring across organizations. The clothing industry in Italy was chosen as a target context, because many innovative pioneering medium sized enterprises (MSEs) were operating in the industry and we decided to adopt a research methodology based on the use of a qualitative analysis of business cases. The data were collected in three regions of Italy: Emilia Romagna, Marche, Umbria visiting investigated companies over six years (2010-2017). From a part of the necessity of deep organizational engagement with integrated stakeholders, the results imply that firms choose a multiple stakeholders integration strategy with particular attention to supply side relationships in the sense that they vary in their openness towards up-stream supply chain.