Abstract
French Connection is a company founded in the United Kingdom in 1972 which produce and distributes branded fashion clothing for men and women to more than 30 countries around the world from their offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Toronto. French Connection's company is a high street fashion retailer, initially on the fashion clothing range, also diversified in accessories, cosmetics and alcoholic drinks range.
After 5 years of success, last year, sales were down by over 18% for a quarter, the brand became as tired, they needed a new competitive advantage to stay in the fight with their competitors. French Connection's position in the market is increasingly competitive and highly a fragmented retail market.
To evaluate the nature of the competitive environment, Porter's five forces of industry competition is a good tool. The aim of this model is to identify the success key factors of the environment, in another view the strategic element which it is advisable to control and obtain a competitive advantage. For that, it is necessary to organize a hierarchy basis on the 5 forces (M. Porter, 1980), in order to determine which strategic actions must be carried out in priority.
