Abstract Front-end decisions focus on identifying the best approaches and conceptual ideas for a successful innovation process that would yield greater benefits from proposed financial investments. Hence, they are considered as forming the roots of success of the innovation process. Although scholars have emphasized the importance of front-end decisions for quite some time, little attention has been paid by researchers to the decision-making at the front-end of apparel innovation. Thus, the aim of this research is to explore the key decision-making process involved in the front-end so as to provide significant insight into decision situations and make a noteworthy contribution to this topic. Adopting the qualitative multiple case study research approach, three apparel companies engaged in apparel innovation within Sri Lanka were studied. The data were analyzed qualitatively using the process of data reduction, data display and aggregate conclusions on key decision-making gates at the front-end. It came to light that there are five key decisions to be made within the preliminary strategy identification and implementation phase. During the idea or concept, development phase three possible approaches were noted and the key decision gates were identified accordingly.

中文翻译：

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服装创新前端的决策：来自斯里兰卡的研究

摘要 前端决策侧重于为成功的创新过程确定最佳方法和概念想法，从而从拟议的金融投资中产生更大的收益。因此，它们被认为是创新过程成功的根源。尽管学者们强调前端决策的重要性已经有一段时间了，但研究人员很少关注服装创新前端的决策。因此，本研究的目的是探索前端涉及的关键决策过程，以提供对决策情况的重要洞察，并对该主题做出显着贡献。采用定性多案例研究方法，对斯里兰卡境内从事服装创新的三家服装公司进行了研究。对数据进行定性分析，在前端的关键决策闸门上采用数据缩减、数据展示和汇总结论的过程。据了解，在初步战略确定和实施阶段有五个关键决策需要做出。在构思或概念期间，开发阶段注意到了三种可能的方法，并相应地确定了关键的决策门。