Weaving the gold thread: strategic resources in a fashion industry Within this context an approach is highlighted to emphasise how the internal resources of the organization are used to gain competitive advantage in the market, the resource-based view. Initially proposed by Barney (1991), the resour

In the field of business strategy, the resource-based view demonstrates through the firm’s resources its ability to gain competitive advantage. This research had as objective identifying the resources that can be considered strategic in an industry of artisan fashion and thus to generate competitive advantage in this sector. The research method consists in a case study through a qualitative approach, where interviews were made with members of the organization and an external consultant. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The analyzed industry manufactures artisan fashion pieces with natural wool and demonstrates internal attributes that appear as differentials. Natural wool was once one of the great products of Rio Grande do Sul and had its decay with the emergence of synthetic fibers in the post-war period. Now another perspective emerges for the so-called 'White Gold' and its use as a competitive differential allied to the quality and sustainability of organic fibers and regional identity valued in this market.

The field of studies on organizational strategy has, throughout its evolution in scientific studies, sought to highlight the phenomena that lead organizations to succeed in the market and to demonstrate what factors can contribute to this success.In this sense, the strategy adopted by the organization is seen as one of the critical points that determine business success.
Within this context an approach is highlighted to emphasise how the internal resources of the organization are used to gain competitive advantage in the market, the resource-based view.Initially proposed by Barney (1991), the resource theory, more commonly referred to as a resource-based view, seeks to demonstrate through the characteristics of the organization's resources its potential for a competitive advantage that is sustainable and kept over time in the organization.
Before the advent of the RBV (resource-based view) per say, the organizational resource approach had its origin in the seminal work of Wernerfelt (1984), which characterized as a resource anything that can be thought of as a force or weakness of a particular company.According to Barney (1991), understanding the sources that provide the competitive advantage for the companies has become an important area of research within the field of organizational strategy.So, it's part of the understanding that for the firm to gain competitive advantage, it must implement strategies that exploit the organization's forces to react before the opportunities while neutralizing its threats, avoiding the organizational weaknesses.
For Vasconcelos and Cyrino (2000) the amalgam of concepts that were transposed as resource theory appeared in the 1980s with the central proposal that the source of competitive advantage was found primarily in the resources and skills developed by the firms.As Barney (2001) reports, the RBV appeared in the field of organizational strategy as one of the most important theories that are concerned with explaining the reasons for performance differences among firms.
According to Ribeiro et. al (2012) the conceptual discussion and international publications on RBV began in the 1980s, but only in 1990 this approach started to be studied and inserted in journals and events in Brazil.However, the authors point out that the RBV is relatively mature in Brazil and has been studied with a greater consistency in the last years, which is demonstrated by a growth and promotion of scientific research on this subject.The general understanding is that RBV analysis identifies the attributes that generate the competitive advantage of the business, as internal characteristics of the organization.In this sense, studies on organizational strategy seek to explain competitive advantage through organizational practices, and internal elements.
Through this theoretical construct we seek in this research to make an analysis of the main points theoretically discussed by the RBV, attempting to identify empirically through a case study the evidences reported theoretically.For this analysis there are considered the main attributes of RBV (valuable, rare, imperfectly emulated and organization) that will be used for the purpose of empirical analysis of the theoretical attributes.Thus, through the analysis of the characteristics of the resources the present research aims to identify the resources that provide competitive advantage in the artisan fashion industry.
We opted for a qualitative data analysis approach, using the RBV-based case study instrument.The analysis used for this study is an organization that is located in a municipality bordering Uruguay and manufactures fashion pieces in an artisan way through natural wool.In this organization, the wool that was once the second most economically important product in Rio Grande do Sul (VIANA, 2008) known as 'Ouro Branco' at the time of its apogee (BOFILL, 1996) returns against synthetic fibers, which gained space in the post-war period and ended up negatively influencing the prices of natural wool in the market, as competitive differential seeking mainly through its regional characteristics to gain competitive advantage in the markets.
After this brief introduction, the theoretical reference is presented focusing on the resource-based view as a competitive advantage and the RBV attributes.Then the methodology is exposed, explaining the development of the research and the discussion of the results, interweaving the theory with the empirical data and finally the considerations.
The resource-based view seeks to explain the sources of competitive advantage of the organization through an analysis of the characteristics of the internal resources, understanding that the performance of this company may be the result of how internal resources are used and what are these resources (BARNEY, 1991).According to Barney (1991) the resource-based view model start with two basic assumptions to analyze the sources of competitive advantage.The first assumption is that the companies operating within the same industry present heterogeneous characteristics regarding the strategic resources that these firms control (PETERAF, 1993).The second assumption concerns these resources, since they are treated as still or not perfectly moveable between companies, which makes this heterogeneity last for a long time (CAPRON;HULLAND, 1999).
These resources are not distributed evenly across companies.The RBV chain has as its main notion that the source of competitive advantage lies first in the resources and competences that are developed and controlled by the companies, leaving the structure of the industry where the company is placed as a second plan (VASCONCELOS; CYRINO, 2000 ).Furthermore, according to Madhani (2010), the resources are not easily transferred among or acquired by firms, because they require a long learning curve or a broad change in the organization's climate and culture, so the resources are more exclusive and hard to imitate.
For Madhani (2010), the resource-based view, in addition to analyzing and interpreting the company's resources, emphasizes resources and capabilities so that one can understand how a given organization achieves, rather than a simple temporary prominence before the competitors, a competitive advantage that is sustainable in a long-term rather than something trivial and easily imitated by competitors.
For that matter, according to Gohr et. al (2011) the resources and capacities of the company become central in the formulation of the organizational strategy, since these resources as they are distributed in a non-uniform way among the companies, give an advantage to those companies that have a structure that contemplates such resources, making these the main factor that on a great extent can provide a differential in the market since the organization is able to understand them and used to their advantage.
So, the organizational resources that are identified with characteristics that attribute heterogeneity to other organizations and, in addition, are real estate, not easily copied, are likely to generate competitive advantage.Therefore, it is understood that the attributes that demonstrate this relationship of heterogeneity and immobility of the company resources are fundamental in the process of strategy formulation and so it is important to identify them and classify them according to their characteristics (PAVÃO; SEHNEM; HOFFMANN, 2011, p.229).Alcantara et. al (2015) confirming with this idea, demonstrates that for a company to have the potential of sustainable competitive advantage, its resources must have four characteristics, they must be valuable, rare, hard to imitate and must be exploited efficiently by the organization.Following, there are the main characteristics that identify the resources in one of these four types.
In this chapter we'll discuss the understanding of what resources are within a resource-based theory of vision approach, seeking to highlight the main concepts that surround this theoretical approach, as well as allowing the understanding of the different categorizations of resources, since these are understood under different aspects depending on the nature and properties of the resource.
The resources that a company owns are not the same as the ones of other companies and, therefore, are heterogeneous resources.If the companies had homogeneous resources, any strategy devised by the company could be copied by another company that participates in that industry, eliminating competitive advantage (BAR-NEY, 1991).
Resources can be "assets, capabilities, organizational processes, attributes of the company, information, knowledge" (BARNEY, 1991, p.101) that are controlled by the company and enable it to implement strategies that improve its efficiency and effectiveness.Therefore, it's important to emphasize that not all the organization's resources are strategic (MADHANI, 2010) and could generate competitive advantage.For that matter, we present those resources that can be considered strategic, within the attributes of RBV: rare, valuable, hard to imitate and internal organization.
With the existence of these characteristics, these resources are transformed into a competitive advantage through the internal organization of the company (CARDEAL, ANTÓNIO, 2012).For Santos and Dias (2013), the organization attribute is fundamental, so that if resources are available, they can be allocated in a way that there is an actual competitive advantage, so it doesn't matter if there are such resources if the organization does not have the managerial capacity to use them.
So, the four categories of attributes that may give the company competitive advantages can be explained as follows: a) valuable resources: as valuable it's possible to understand the resource that gives the firm the ability to exploit any specific opportunity and neutralize possible threats that may arise from the environment in which it's inserted; b) rare resources: the notion of rare is from resources controlled by a small number of organizations.The company must have a resource that allows it to have a strategy that is not duplicated by the competitor, and then hold resources that allows companies that don't have it, are not able to implement a similar strategy; c) imperfectly imitable resources: it refers to the ability of another organization to copy the resource.The harder it is to have your resource copied, the better for the organization to gain advantage; d) organization: this is the organizational and managerial capacity of the company.The firm needs to be well organized so that it can exploit valuable, rare and imperfectly imitable resources.
The resources mentioned above are divided into their classification as physical, human or organizational, and within each of these classifications may have the attributes of resource-based view (valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and organization).In terms of the physical resources, some examples are the studies of Barney (1991), Alcantara et. al (2015), Silva, Chagas and Siqueira (2012) and Zen (2012) that indicate the location, technology, equipment, own brand as possible physical resources.As for humans: network, involvement and management style, teamwork, training, employee know-how and tacit knowledge are some studies Castanias and Helfat, (2001), Griffith, Noble and Chen (2006); Branzei and Thornill (2006);Alcantara et. al, (2015), Silva, Chagas and Siqueira (2012) and Zen (2012).Company reputation among clients, quality, planning, market and business knowledge are also some attributes related to organizational resources, as indicated by Alcantara et. Al (2015), Silva, Chagas and Siqueira (2012) and Zen (2012).
With specific focus on the object studied here, the business strategy in the artisanal fashion market still seems little explored in the context of management research.In the sequel, we explore some works that analyze this specific market to establish a relationship with the area of organizational strategy.
In the fashion market according to Zatta, Crishna and Menezes (2011), to stand out the products must have attributes of design, considering the product and also the image of the brand, besides technologies, peculiarities and customized services.The studies of Zatta, Crishna and Menezes (2011) and Sutter (2012) show that regional identity valorization, in this case the Brazilian identity appears as a differential adding value as a competitive differential.Sutter's studies ( 2012) also shows that design, quality and image are fundamental attributes in this market.The creation process is very important in this segment, since the renowned companies of the sector are known for their differentiation being linked to the products design and innovation capacity (SILVA; VINCENT; GALINA, 2013) Sutter et. al (2014) also analyze the issue of the Brazilian identity as a product differentiating element.The so-called "Brasilidade", based on the valorization of the national culture according to the study, demonstrates that aspects that refer to attributes of Brazilian identity become a differential in the market, interfering in the perception of the buyers that identify in this aspect a facet that would make them pay more for the product.Sutter et. al (2015) report that the fashion market presents an exponential growth, even though Brazil is an important producer in the textile and clothing sector, its participation is not very representative in the international market.The authors draw attention to the fact that the wool is among the so-called or-ganic fibers (cotton, wool and silk) there is as a differential because of the sustainability of the product.As mentioned in the study, sustainability appears as a factor of great importance in this market.In order for this process to occur and the company to internationalize, some characteristics are identified by the study of Sutter et. al (2016), they are: design, product quality, support and services, product attributes related to the country of origin and adequate price.
In general, the studies intend to verify the main differentials, mainly in the insertion of Brazilian companies in the international market.Studies such as Nunes and Da Silveira (2016) face another perspective, analyzing the fast fashin market, which comprises large retailers and a more mass segment of fashion production.In the analyzed databases, Capes and Spell journals, no other studies were found to analyze the object discussed here, the artisan fashion and its relation with the firm's internal strategy.
According to Barney (2001a) RBV has a very broad and unified theoretical spectrum about the resources, however, it is useful to understand that the way of applying the resource-based view depends mainly on the studied empirical context.For that matter, the methodology used was chosen in order to identify the specific characteristics of the empirical context studied.
The study initially required an intensive documentary research in journals and magazines that addressed the subject in question.As described by Marconi and Lakatos (2015), the bibliographical research includes public bibliography on the studied subject, among them stand-alone publications, newsletters, journals, magazines, books, research monographs, theses, cartographic material, among other sources (such as audiovisual media).
For a second moment, after making a bibliographic research, we set out for an exploratory-descriptive study approach, using a case study.According to Prodanov and Freitas (2013) the case study works in order to collect and analyze information about a particular group regard to study individuals aspects to deepen the studied object.
Following the study, in the data collection phase, a documentary search was made through private archives (organization statute) and private documents, in this case there were collected photographs of events and fairs that were held, as well as awards received by the organization.It is important to highlight that the sources of data collection in the documentary research are not restricted to documents, written or not (MARCONI, LAKATOS, 2015).Also in this stage it was used to obtain the data the structured interview instrument to understand the facts and opinions of the managers of the organization, asl highlighted.Both forms of data collection were carried out based on the bibliographical review, in order to guarantee a theoreticalempirical interweaving that allows the analysis and discussion of the data.
The phase of data analysis was intended to interpret the statements of the managers addressed and to identify in them their correlation with the theoretical approach studied.The interviews pursued to answer four dimensions of analysis, which sought to understand the existing attributes of RBV in the literature.The aim was to establish a correspondence between the empirical and theoretical levels (BARDIN, 2002).
The analyzed unit is an organization that produces fashion items through wool carding.To get closer to the organizational reality, it was decided to conduct interviews with two managers of the organization and a consultant who at the time of conducting the research was advising the organization.In order to have a better understanding in the discussion proposed in this article, the actors of the organization that were interviewed will be identified as M1 (Manager 1), M2 (Manager 2) and EC (External Consultant), so that the identities of those involved in the research are preserved.Following, we try to empirically demonstrate the identification of the internal properties of the organization that characterize the attributes of the resource-based view.For this purpose, it's divided into subchapters that address each of the dimensions surveyed.
As exposed by Barney (2001), the valuable resource gives the firm the ability to exploit an external opportunity that allows it to gain competitive advantage.Given this aspect that distinguishes the resource as valuable for the organization, it's possible to realize in Manager 1's discourse that there are external factors that can be used by the business model (SIRMON; HITT, 2003) in which the organization is functioning today, as can be seen in an excerpt from the interview with M1: [...] the artisan is the only one who doesn't pay tax on his goods, it is one hundred percent, the artisan is exempt from taxes.So we can market here in Brazil, we can trade abroad, so there's no limit all the year for you to market your products, even to export it, right, there was a time when I wanted to export wool, and I researched, and for me to export I can export up to fifty thousand dollars, and the tax doesn't have to be collected.So even, they said there, up to 30 pounds at a time.(M1) This possibility of obtaining an advantage in the exportation, since the taxation is seen as an opportunity for the organization, is provoked by the style of work accomplished, therefore it's understood as a proper characteristic of the organization that allows to explore exogenous factors, characteristic of a valuable resource (BAR-NEY, 1991).In this way the knowledge of the business (ALCANTARA et. al 2015) and the market (SILVA; CHAGAS; SIQUEIRA, 2012) become fundamental so that this valuable resource is identified and can be explored by the firm.
There is an exploitation of this resource used by the organization, which demonstrates through the speech of one of the interviewees the operationalization of this phenomenon: "We have already come to sell parts for people who send by mail, send as a gift, on demand.Then we make the order and the person takes to New Zealand, to Canada, to Argentina"(M1).
Another element used by the organization that symbolizes how valuable are its resources, are the awards received by it.Thus, the company's reputation level (AL-CANTARA et. al, 2015;SILVA;CHAGAS;SIQUEIRA, 2012) works as a way of assigning value to the firm resources.Participations in various competitions with their products attribute the ability to stand out in the market, these awards bring the possibility of exploiting them as a characteristic to market once they compete with other products of the same segment and on several occasions win the awards.Manager1's speech demonstrates this phenomenon: [...] level award, not national, it's international, world level it has already won an award, precisely with this work that is the crochet in jacquard.
In the contests they put, for example, crochet in jacquard won a prize, they put there that it enters as crochet technique in jacquard, but they put there industrial wool, handmade wool, industrial wool, there's differentiation at the time of winning the awards.I myself have three (awards) here.(M1) In addition, the quality of manufactured products is found to be far superior to those on the market as a whole: "If you conserve well, a poncho like this with the local wool, its durability will be from two hundred to three hundred years, three generations" (M1).The quality (SUTTER, 2012), in this case attributed to the durability of the piece, is also a prominent feature that stands out in the market.
Following, those resources identified as rare in the organization are analyzed.
As for the rarity of the resources, as Manager 2 emphasizes, on the uniqueness of the work done: "it is no use asking 'I want such thing like that', it doesn't matter, it won't work'(M2).This demonstrates that the alignment with the theoretical description where rare resource is the exclusive control of the organization (BARNEY, 1991) and as Madhani (2011) points out to be considered rare, the resources must be difficult to find, which is linked to the fact of the resource to be found only in the region.
For Manager 2, the existence of works that can be characterized as similar to the products elaborated by Industry X is not recognized and emphasizes the role of the raw material as a characteristic for the differential, besides the execution technique, the jacquard: "I don't think [...] In all of the fairs that we have gone, there isn't.The differential is in the wool and the work that is very meticulous, very laborious [...] It's differentiated right, it's differentiated because it is a meticulous work "(M2).
In this attribute, it is noticeable that the rarity is due to an intangible resource as mentioned by Barney (1991), which is the know-how (ZEN, 2012) that the organization possesses, with regard to the artisanal jacquard production technique, and the exclusivity of the inputs that are specific to the location (BARNEY, 1991;ALCANTARA et. al, 2015), as can be seen in the questionnaire made with the consultant, when asked about the differential of the organization's products: "Uniqueness in production and manual confection since the choice of the sheep that will give the wool for the assembly and confection of the artisan products.Creativity and originality in techniques developed in jacquard "(EC).
So it was possible to realize through the study that the main source that reflects this rarity is the combination of the technique used with the unique material of the region, as Manager 1 reports: "made with natural wool is only here, only here [...] until they seek recognition as immaterial patrimony.[...] It's a French technique, and they brought it here, and they adapted it in natural wool, it has to be with the wool of the region"(M1).
Besides that, with regard to characteristics inherent to the fashion market specifically through the studies analyzed here, it's possible to identify the product design (Zatta, Crishna and Menezes 2011) and mostly the valorization of a regional identity that is linked to the product (SUTTER, 2012), as well as the sustainability with the rise of organic fibers (wool) as reported in the study by Sutter et. al (2015).
The identity of the pieces is one of the main attributes valued by the organization, that before this market, make use of the history of its product and its relation with the regional identity and the rarity inherent to the attributes found only in the region to valorize them: [...] I started investing more precisely on it having a history, from the wool here to have a history, for when the person gets there, the person who doesn't know, for example we go to expointer exhibition, we go to gaucho hall there to participate in the contest and there goes parts of all around Brazil, even from the border countries here, right?(M1).
Thus, it can be understood that the regional charge attributed to the products by the organization is a factor of great importance to achieve competitive advantage and leading to the highlight before of the competitors, including in awards, due to these rare characteristics.The imperfectly imitable resources are explored below.
In terms of the relation between the immobility of resources and the sustainability of the competitive advantage (PAVÃO; SEHNEM; HOFFMANN, 2011) it is possible to observe through the speech of the Manager 1, when asked about the possibility of other firms copying their products, that these characteristics of supply are in fact very important so that the parts are really considered inimitable: Oh no, it can't.It really can't, it can't even because you can't get to the same hue, even the one that is industrially washed sometimes it doesn't come in the same hue, like for example I will suppose that a fleece of that sheep gave a kilogram and half of wool, then I work it all, then the other year I went there and I got the same wool from the same sheep, and she is going to give another different color.[...] So that's it, we work with a unique product then, it's just one at a time, you know?(M1) At this point, as discussed by Alcantara et. al (2015), it is understood that the inability to imitate the product allows the firm to use as a differential before the market.Manager 1 also points out that even with the ability of the technique to be used in another organization, the pieces would never be the same because the inputs used were specific: "The technique can, for example, be passed on to everyone, but to use the same technique as us, they will no longer use the wool that is from here.There you already have, for example, another breed of sheep "(M1).
According to Cardinal and António (2012) the difficulty of imitating, drifts among other things from path dependence, that is, the historical context has an influence on this issue, making the imitation difficult.And as emphasizes Sanches and Dias (2013) these historical conditions drift among other things from the pioneering.For Madhani (2011) these characteristics become a sustainable competitive advantage, since the other firms present in the market are not able to imitate.
These aspects are evident through Manager 2's regarding the existing tradition and strong historical backing of this production: [...] look, I don't know, there are people who work with loom in [mentioned cities], there are a lot of people there, it's the focus of the wool, too.But our work here I don't know if there is already someone doing it there, but if so, we are the pioneers, right?Moreover we were trying to make it at Iphan to become cultural heritage of the city, because we are the pioneers.(M2) This pioneerism (SANCHES; DIAS, 2013), together with the historical trajectory (CARDEAL; ANTÓNIO, 2012) are also relevant issues for the organization to differentiate itself from the others.This issue evolved in such a way that the organization established with the host municipality an attempt to register with the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) to strengthen precisely those aspects related to the patch dependence.The next chapter deals with how the firm organizes itself to use the resources.
Within the organizational aspect and how the company is able to manage its resources so that they are a positive point capable of bringing benefits to the organization, the field research brought the vision of two main points associated with this issue that are worked on in the studied organization: the inspection made on the final products and the care in the purchase with the supplier, we can say that these two points converge to a concern with the quality of the pieces.With regard to the inspection, Manager 1 describes in his speech this concern: After his product is there, we always go through a team that evaluates our pieces, if it has quality or not, there is a team that will check if this piece is well done, if it is well made, if it's not a piece that people buy and have to come back because it's torn.Today women are perfectionists, they look at everything, not only wool, but also any other product, if it is well finished, if it is well done.(M1).
It's possible to identify that there is an organization at the final point of the production process of the organization, culminating in the analysis of the final product, but this organization to maintain the quality of the products also happens in the initial part of the process, that is, in the purchase of the inputs.The existence of two possible suppliers in the region makes the firm more judicious in the choice of inputs, given the possibility of buying wool through a local cooperative or directly from the product, without the intermediary that due to internal practices modifies the characteristics of the of the wool that are sought by the organization: You know, they talk a lot about the naturally colored sheep, that they work with sheep that go through genetics, they make crosses to give other wool colors, right?And then what happens, they pass for example a producer they undergo qualification, there's also awards if the wire was handcrafted, if it was washed in the industry.Today I buy wool directly from the producer, I don't buy from the cooperative, because there the cooperative has already passed the paramount, there are some that are already washed there in the paramount, so it always increases the value.[...] but the wool there is dyed, brown or gray, it's not the thing that is natural to the sheep, there at paramount are several mixed breeds.(M1) Manager 2 also comments that the work done in the production should be very careful, which is in line with Manager 1's speech and demonstrates the organization's concern and mainly maintain the quality of the products: "To make this thread there, it has to be a professional, because it has to be a "little" thread... because if you leave a thick part and the other one thin, the job will end up ugly, it's not well presented.
Therefore, the firm stands out in the organization attribute (CARDEAL; ANTÓNIO, 2012; PAVÃO; SEHNEM; HOFFMANN, 2011), whose main focus is on the product quality, paying attention to the production process as a whole.Once again, it can be seen that the main resources of the organization refer to the input allied to the production technique that together allow the production of unique works and so the company is organized to take advantage of these resources.In this way, the structural capital (processes, administrative systems) and intellectual capital (knowledge of the employees) are the resources that are highlighted at the organizational level in order to maintain the product quality (PEREIRA, 2002).Also included in this perspective are the highly qualified human resources (WRIGHT; MCMAHAN; MCWILLI-WAMS, 1993), since only the qualification strictly linked to the productive material allows to detect errors and failures in the products.
Following, through Frame 2, the main resources identified in the studied organization are summarized and that attributes to it the capacity to generate competitive advantage, as well as the attributes related to each one of the resources identified and the references referring to the scientific researches that gave theoretical support to identify the presented data.Each RBV attribute (valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and organization) is related to its corresponding resources within the organization in which the research was done.and Mcwilliawms (1993) Source: Elaborated by the authors After the identification and analysis of the resources of the organization in question, following there are some considerations from the analysis carried out.
Given the characteristics empirically analyzed in the studied organization, some attributes that correspond to the characteristics of the strategy through a resourcebased view were identified.It is possible to affirm that among the identified attributes, some of them present themselves with greater weight to the organization and a greater recurrence of use, while others are little explored and could have a greater focus as in the case of an organization oriented more specifically to a strategic market view and its positioning before it.The organization attribute is used by the firm in a way to strictly control the quality of the products, but is not used in a way to strategically think new possibilities and analyze the market.
Even so, some attributes are greatly exploited by the organization that has notably perceived in them their differentiation from competitors and uses them as the main tool to generate a competitive advantage that remains sustainable over time.The attribute of rarity is the main attribute identified as capable of generating a financial performance above the market, in comparison to other products, it is expressed that these characteristics of the resources of the organization attribute to it the permission to charge a price beyond that practiced by competitors in the market.
The recognition of the brand before the market through the awards received by the organization is also of vital importance for its strategic practice.In this case, allied to the regional specificities, characteristics of production found only in the region, become a strong weapon of the organization to gain competitive advantage.These characteristics can be identified as the most important and best explored by the organization, which constantly uses the local factors to gain prominence in the market.
It's presented with a strong indication that the use of regional characteristics are one of the most relevant attributes in the fashion market, especially in the case of parts exports.Another important fact that must be emphasized is the organization's know-how that allows the construction of unique pieces that are not possible to be imitated by competitors.
These are the pillars that contribute to the resurgence of the 'White Gold' in the national and world scenario, resuming its missing role of prominence with the rise of synthetic fibers shortly after the World War II.The context has shown that it's possible to regain its value regarding the fashion market, linked mainly to the quality and sustainability, inherent characteristics of organic fibers, and strengthened by regional aspects that are highly valued in this specific market.
It's necessary to emphasize the importance of carrying out more studies directed specifically to the artisan fashion market and its strategic approach.Once the lack of such studies is noted, it's necessary to develop a broader approach that is capable of identifying the strategic characteristics inherent to this type of organization and how they work in a way that generates competitive advantage.