Internationalisation Strategy of Iconic Malaysian High Fashion Brands

This paper draws on a qualitative study of the Malaysian high fashion retail sector (Loo, 2010), examining the key success factors which appear to have been decisive in the successful internationalisation of fashion brands. The study is set within a context of previous research in strategy and internationalisation, retail internationalisation, and branding. A qualitative case study approach was chosen and the focus was placed on four major international high fashion brands with Malaysian principals: Zang Toi, Bernard Chandran, Jimmy Choo and Melinda Looi. The data sets included 32 depth interviews with senior practitioners in the sector, supplemented by secondary and also informal sources. The chosen case studies achieved their international success through a high degree of cultural assimilation obtained within locations of intense industrial concentration. Knowledge of education, language, networks and management systems were also important to sustain world class standards of creative design, branding, quality management and marketing communication. For many Asian fashion brands, recognition in key European and American markets enhances the domestic prestige of the brand, and this gave a dialectical character to the internationalisation model in this sector: fame abroad both enhanced and leveraged domestic success.