Is ICT an innovation lever in the fashion industry? An empirical analysis on 20 leading Fashion companies

This paper aims at investigating the phenomenon of business-innovation- enabled by ICT (Information & Communication Technology) in the Fashion industry. ICT is becoming more and more important for different business’s missions – support to processes, support to enterprise flexibility, support to decisional processes, etc. - and the CIO (Chief Information Officer) is improving his role in the Fashion companies. Two macro-drivers have been identified which determine different levels of importance of the CIO in the enabled-by-technologies innovation processes: the Vertex’s and top management sensitivity to digital technologies and the CIO’s personal and professional characteristics (such as the leadership). In addition, it is clear that, the changes in the role played by ICT are determining important management transformations for the ICT Department, concerning organization, sourcing and competences management choices. The research shows that the innovation processes enabled by ICT must be managed as a system composed by different variables, which have to be consistent among them. The study is based on an empirical research involving 20 case studies of leading Fashion companies