Innovation through trade show concertation

Concertation is a process that allows firms (particularly small and medium-sized enterprises) to effectively cooperate in developing dominant product designs and styles. Concertation is centered on the activities of trade shows that provide a platform for collective action by providing the participating actors with commercial and promotional benefits. Like standard-setting committees, these collective marketing events may be understood as commercialization networks that, especially in the context of fragmented industries, are able to mobilize and coordinate a great number of competing firms’ individual innovative efforts towards common trajectories. Specifically, we present the case of Première Vision, Europe’s leading clothing fabric trade show. After a background description of the key features of innovation processes in the clothing textile industry, we describe Première Vision and analyze the concertation process, as well as the key actors involved in each of its phases. We conclude by discussing the contextual characteristics that make concertation processes possible and highlight our contributions to the literature on innovation and standard affirmation.