eyes wide open

I’ll split this ending piece in two parts: one covering the specific theme of the blog and one regarding the classroom implications. 

In the course of researching the blog articles, I have learned that: a) vacuous girls can use the Internet to vainly post pictures of their outfits each day and b) big corporations can use the Internet as well. And usually these companies have more money to explore new technologies a bit further than the average consumer. In particular, the fashion industry, not known to be accepting of changes in structures and business practices was surprisingly on the forefront of the push to digitize and go online. It was interesting to see such an industry capable of change and see the shift from magazines to blogs and social media. Eventually, I’d like to see such change trickle down to the mass market.

All of this is more of a high-level business way of applying the actual technology. Concerning the issue of technology in high fashion, I learned about importance of issues behind providing that technology. Another application for technology to support the fashion industry is the use of CRMs to gather and analyze the information provided by bloggers- use CRM to track certain types of customers and ‘style influencers’. 

In the end, this class taught me the technology and considerations one must keep in mind when dealing with any form of technology and finally the capitalization of online opportunities. Applied to the high fashion world, it’s even more removed from the subject at hand but technology is absolutely crucial to creating new competitive environments and advantages.

don't let the chavs bite

Today’s post will be a bit more jumpy than usual, as I attempt to cover various points in linking the classroom content to the theme of fashion.

I'll start off with discussing the (maybe varying) business models particular high fashion houses employ on the internet.

Of the four business models @acroll discussed in his guest lecture (e-commerce, collaboration, media advertising and productivity-centric sites), the online presence of various couture brands fit into one of the four; even though the goods sold were infinitely more unique, rare and pricey, the high fashion industry still represented the trend of brick and mortar retailers making the shift online and plying their trade there.

At the beginning, the brands focused on using the internet as an advertising medium to spur sales in their brick and mortar boutiques. Gradually (very gradually) some of these brands started to incorporate an actual e-commerce portion to their website, allowing visitors and potential customers to purchase goods online. Some examples include Proenza Schouler and Burberry. In fact, Burberry has taken it one step further and incorporated their e-commerce platform with the live-stream of their runway shows so watchers are able to purchase an item immediately as it is unveiled on the runway.

In fact, Burberry is a perfect example of a high fashion luxury brand that is attempting to move their online presence out of just the usual transactional model. In Fall 2009 the brand launched a stand-alone website The Art of the Trench aimed at replicating the feel of fashion blogs and the trend of street style photographs, asking users to submit pictures of themselves in a classic Burberry trench coat. This represented a branching out from the purely transactional or advertising strategy to one that involved (consumer) collaboration. Obviously, this serves as a brilliant and on-trend/of-the-moment method of engaging the consumers, of advertising to the viewers of the site, and in the end, to spur the sales of the trench coat/Burberry items whether online or offline.

an interlude: social context response to sandra waddock's hollow men

While Waddock does make some valid points in her argument for a change in management education, it is my opinion that her suggestions in the article are placing too much focus on one force at fault in the ethical meltdowns (that of the managements’ personal ethics). I believe the people at fault in the examples of a lack of corporate ethics (Enron and Arthur Anderson) were of a different generation than those going through business school today. Back then, when those executives (now well into middle-age) were going through business school (if they even did attend it, not always a norm at the time), the world was going through some drastic changes- various oil and energy crises and the 1980s recession resulted in an environment that placed a large emphasis on the accumulation of pure wealth in the form of profits. Yet it is my opinion that the managers that are going through business school now, whether undergraduate or post-graduate, live in different times and understand inherently different stakeholder groups to take into account. This is Generation Y, we who grew up connected; we can actually see in real-time the damaging effects of decisions made in a boardroom on migrant workers in Mexico. I don’t agree with the author putting as much fault on the management education of the executives but rather a complex set of circumstances with an emphasis on the culture of society at that time, a culture which must be said, has changed drastically. It is my (possibly too idealistic) belief that we, the products of such a different culture would react in a different manner than those of yesteryear; we who are more likely to be of neoliberal-leanings, and we who live in a society that asks for mutual respect and will prosecute perpetrators with all the might of the Internet generation.

I agree that some changes need to be made to management education, but maybe not to the extreme extent that she suggests of learning management from a holistic point of view. Frankly, this is a business school and not a holistic retreat. Understanding the human aspect of business is extremely important yes, but not so far as to overwhelm the overall goal- improving the bottom line. The key is to blend the two sensibilities, if not in one person then at least in the governing team. The goal of management education is to provide such a finished product: the blend of a manager who can still think ethically. To produce this, the changes in actual education must also be a blend- teach the theory and the profits with a constant reference to the effects of all theory and decisions on stakeholders. I believe one of the better paths to take in this situation is to emphasize the quantitative/bottom-line benefits of respecting such ethical and holistic views; a good example is that of Ricardo Semler’s Semco in Brazil where the workers are all empowered and respected, to the great boon of the company’s bottom-line.

rockin robin, tweet, tweet, tweet-a-leet

A continuation of sorts from the last post (I refuse to give up this theme it seems), this one will cover a different aspect of social media, microblogs, or more specifically, Twitter. I’ve briefly touched on this before, in explaining the new accessibility of high fashion as Twitter is used by industry insiders to give followers sneak-peaks at runway collections.

A large portion of the general populace is still undecided and quite skeptical over the service, but despite this, Twitter still manages to boast more than 165 million registered users. Allowing users to publish short 140-character posts with links to photos, videos and external websites on top of personal commentary, the service has managed to take the business world by storm. Mentioned in the context of showing viewers quick snaps of runway photos, Twitter’s main draw is not the access it gives to the average fashion consumer but ask any marketer and the answer lies in the buzzword of the day/year/decade: interactivity.

social media: twitter

A key aspect of the new trend of Web 2.0, interactivity between business partners, business competition, and most of all between businesses and their consumers, has become a crucial competitive advantage in the race for customers, their loyalty and most of all their wallets. Perhaps the poster-child for the interactive social brand, Starbucks (the preferred drink of the fashion elite) has turned this into an idea-generating, customer-loyalty-inducing business advantage. In the world of high fashion however, the brands are less focused on assuring their customers’ drink-purchasing experience was the best it could possibly be but into a forum where they can interact with their customers and fans to gain insight into what is liked and what isn’t, to publish secret contests and giveaways just to the Twitter followers, to give the average follower a glimpse into the inner workings of a fashion brand. Instead of maintaining the allure and mystery of a secretive high fashion brand, many such as DKNY and Marc Jacobs have hired full-time employees assigned to care for the company’s Twitter account- seen as another public face for the company and brand. All these short posts about the company on the inside spark conversation- between the brand and its consumers and even between consumers themselves; Twitter is a great way to get free marketing by way of being the topic of discussion.