Title: The reasons behind Zara's success: evaluating the value chain

Authors: Ana Rita Canelas Luz; Paul Wreaves; Marco Antonio Catussi Paschoalotto

Addresses: University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), Av. das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisboa, Portugal; Nottingham Trent University (NTU), 50 Shakespeare St., NG1 4FQ, Nottingham, UK ' Nottingham Trent University (NTU), 50 Shakespeare St., NG1 4FQ, Nottingham, UK ' Nova School of Business and Economics (NOVA-SBE), R. Holanda No. 1, 2775-405, Carcavelos, Portugal; University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract: Experts have studied the leading apparel company at providing fast service at affordable prices for a long time. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to evaluate the value chain of Zara within the context of the fast fashion market. A set of reasons have been gathered to explain the reasons behind such a successful supply chain, starting from the business strategy to future challenges and recommendations. What is more, the findings are close relationships with suppliers with collaboration as key; a global buyer-driven value chain with intrinsic information flows from customer feedback to the stores' managers, directly to the headquarters; independence of workers providing a fast response and flexibility.

Keywords: value chain; supply chain; case-study; fast fashion industry; Zara; apparel business; evaluation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTCS.2021.114994

International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 2021 Vol.12 No.1, pp.1 - 16

Received: 10 Jun 2020
Accepted: 31 Oct 2020
Published online: 13 May 2021 *

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