Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new perspective on ambidextrous innovation orientation looking at how the current digital transformation is accepted in the fashion industry in Italy. Precisely, the objective of the paper is to test whether the use of social media platforms positively influences ambidextrous innovation orientation in fashion companies.Design/methodology/approach: Empirical quantitative research was carried out on a sample of 853 small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the fashion industry in Italy. Using a logistic regression methodology, four hypotheses were tested to verify the correlation of four dimensions of social media platforms with an ambidextrous innovation orientation among fashion firms.Findings: The four hypotheses were validated: the structural dimension, the relational behaviour dimension, the cognitive dimension and knowledge transfer practices of social media platforms were proven to positively influence ambidextrous innovation orientation in fashion firms.Research limitations/implications: Though this is one of the few research studies that offers a quantitative analysis in this field, it could be further developed, for instance by extending the sample of firms to SMEs operating in other countries or by comparing multinationals with SMEs.Originality/value: This paper provides an original contribution to studies on the use of social media to promote ambidexterity in firms, which has only been studied to a limited extent in the extant literature. From this perspective, the originality of the study is further strengthened by the unique context of analysis, namely, the fashion industry in Italy.

Purpose: Digital technologies and social media have improved the connectivity and collaboration between firms and customers in all sectors. However, in the luxury sector, the approach to social media and digital technologies has been slower than in other industries. The purpose of this paper is to review the academic literature on social media marketing in luxury brands to highlight the current state of the art, the addressed key research themes and the implications for management research and practice. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review of academic research on social media marketing has been conducted to gather, examine and synthetize studies related to luxury brands. By following a review protocol based on both automatic and manual search on the Scopus database, all relevant studies on luxury brands were identified and analyzed. Findings: A critical conceptualization of social media marketing in luxury brands has been provided and the emerging key research themes have been categorized into four main areas. Originality/value: Academic literature about social media marketing activities in luxury firms is very limited and existing studies focus only on certain aspects, contexts or single cases. In contrast, the value of this study, for both academics and practitioners, lies in providing, for the first time, a comprehensive and critical systematization of social media marketing academic literature in the field of luxury brands.

For decades, apparel companies have profited from moving their manufacturing to low-cost countries and several academic studies have focused on understanding whether low-cost locations could support optimal supply chain configurations. However, the exploitation of resources in foreign sourcing countries often resulted in many environmental and social issues and apparel companies became progressively more concerned about the negative exposure that they could face with a limited supply chain transparency. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating global sourcing strategies of fast fashion retailers in order to understand whether the decision criteria influencing sourcing locations have changed over time to also embrace sustainability considerations. Drawing on a literature review on sustainability in fashion supply chains, offshore outsourcing, and fast fashion global sourcing, a new theoretical framework concerning fast fashion retailers’ sourcing locations is proposed together with a content analysis of their reports. The findings show that fast fashion retailers identify sustainability as a key element to consider in selecting sourcing locations since sustainability issues at suppliers’ factories may represent relevant hidden costs. Moreover, actions aimed at checking and improving sustainable practices in global sourcing policies are proven to support the development of a strategic sourcing reputation for their fast fashion brands.