The hard path to competitiveness: The organizational fittedness of Spanish textile leaders

In an ever-changing environment, firms must also constantly change the way they do things in order to compete successfully. The Spanish textile leaders of 1992 (in comparison to 1978) have altered their organizational boundaries, favoring more complex and flexible structures, outsourcing production and procurement activities -in order to decrease production costs- and integrating their sales force and distribution channels -in order to gain knowledge from their customers. Based on a study we conducted using data from semi-structured interviews with twenty CEOs and secondary sources within leading Spanish textile companies, we found that larger firms adapted through learning whereas medium-size enterprises were subjected to ecological selection.