Balancing Supply Chain Archetypes and Ambidexterity in the Apparel Industry

The fashion industry has been noted as one of the most global and fluctuating industries in the world and apparel suppy chains (SC) play a strategic role in the growth of the industry and permanency of the brands through responsiveness with the end consumer. On the other hand, some decades ago, the concept of "ambidexterity" has been introduced in the theory and practice of organizations management, but only recently applied to the management of the entire SC. It basically refers to the ability to maintain the daily excellence operations, while the looking for constant innovation; it is also related to the ability of keeping balance. This balance might be about SC archetypes. To this end, our goal in this article are (1) to propose a definition for Ambidextrous supply chains in the field of apparel, and (2) to study the three leaders of the industry and identify if they balance SC archetypes in their way to Ambidexterity.