Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-133). Also available via the Internet.

The awareness of social and environmental responsibility has increased among companies over the years. It has become increasingly important for companies to show the world that they are committed and do take responsibility towards communities. The clothing industry is sensitive to public opinion and has gotten critiqued for their negative impact on the environment and societies. Many companies have published their sustainability reports and disclose their sustainability activities.  Previous research is divided on why the companies voluntarily report on their sustainability. Why do companies in the clothing industry voluntarily publish their sustainability reports? What are the underlying motivations of the companies? Our suspicion was that the companies wanted to legitimize their business by imitating the competitors' sustainability activities in order to obtain legitimacy from their stakeholders. Through three interviews with sustainability managers from MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB and Ellos Group AB, and content analysis of the three companies' sustainability reports, we found that the primary reason why companies choose to report on their sustainability is because they want to legitimize their business. / Medvetenheten om ett socialt och miljömässigt ansvar har ökat bland företagen genom åren. Det har blivit allt viktigare för företagen att kunna visa omvärlden att det är ett engagerat företag som tar sitt ansvar gentemot samhällen. Klädindustrin är känslig för kritik från samhälle som har kritiserats företagen för deras negativa inverkan på miljön och samhället. Många företag har publicerat hållbarhetsredovisningar som beskriver deras hållbarhetsarbete. Tidigare forskning är splittrad på vad som egentligen är anledningen att företag hållbarhetsredovisar. Varför väljer företagen inom klädåterförsäljare industri att frivilligt utföra samt publicera hållbarhetsredovisning? Vilka underliggande motiv finns det hos företagen? Våra misstankar kretsade kring att företagen vill legitimera sin verksamhet genom att imitera konkurrenternas hållbarhets praxis för att erhålla legitimitet från sina intressenter. Genom tre intervjuer med hållbarhetsansvariga från MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB och Ellos Group AB samt en innehållsanalys av de tre företagens hållbarhetsrapporter kom vi fram till att främsta anledningen till att företagen väljer att hållbarhetsredovisa är för att de vill legitimera sin verksamhet.

This research paper focuses on Thailand’s textile and clothing industry since its liberalisation in 1995. The industry used to be the number one generator of export income for Thailand. As exports strongly declined in the late 1990s, the Thai government employed ‘industrial policy’ to reignite the industry in 2003 and 2007. However, the policies have had little effect on the export pattern. We argue that the way government sees the industry is inappropriate and leads to ineffective industrial policy.The research findings illustrate that industrial analysis at ‘macro’ or ‘aggregate’ level is weak and impractical. These high-level analyses do not give policy makers and government a clear understanding of the industry, structure or drivers of performance. Furthermore, we are unable to identify common factors that differentiate well-performing firms from poorly performing firms. The aggregate level data make it difficult for policy makers or government to see what key success factors to focus on in this complex and dynamic business environment. There is no obvious ‘model’ that distinguishes those firms or sectors that do well and grow, against those which do not. So rather than focus on aggregate level, government and policy makers should focus on firm-specific characteristics, strategies or business models that differentiate them from others. Government needs to understand in depth the specific industry structure of the sector and the relationship between key players. This will help it to understand its role and the measures it can use to support the private sector. This new method may consume more time and require better skills and knowledge from researchers and policy makers. The approach requires committed researchers with strong strategic and analytical skills who can divide or dissect the industry into various sub-groups, and policy makers with better mindsets. But most importantly, problematic policy is a result of a fragmented policymaking process that stems from poor economic governance.

Magister Commercii - MCom / How entrepreneurs learn to cope and survive in the South African clothing sector, with its high levels of macro-environment turbulence, may engender particular lessons for entrepreneurial learning and related outcomes such as business innovation. Although SME support measures worldwide offer mentorship to assist firm survival and growth, little is known about how entrepreneurs learn under the guidance of a mentor. Formal mentorship is employed with increased frequency as a training intervention suited to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial learning is linked to experiential learning in the personal development of the entrepreneur and development of the business venture. Formal mentorship as a medium to enhance entrepreneurial learning is the focus of this study. Past research does not adequately address entrepreneurial learning in the context of prolonged turbulent competitive environments, and the role of formal mentorship as a significant contributor to entrepreneurial learning. This qualitative case study is set within the clothing industry of the Western Cape, which is affected by high levels of competitive turbulence. Entrepreneurs and their mentor’s accounts are collected through unstructured and semi-structured personal interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The mentors are contracted to an organisation that provides business development support to SMEs within the clothing sector. Key participants within this organisation, and their sponsor, are interviewed to study strategic influences on formal mentorship. This constitutes the case and a purposive-snowball sampling strategy was employed. The research shows how strategic sponsorship agreements influence the functions and roles that mentors adopt within a top-down approach to mentoring. While formal mentorship provides a valuable intervention as a training mechanism in the SME sector, a propensity for technically driven mentoring outcomes is specific to the clothing industry case. While entrepreneurial learning is associated with formal mentorship, it does not necessarily influence business innovation.

The aim of the study was to investigate and describe how the South African clothing industry ensures well-fitting garments to their target consumers. The study was approached from the viewpoint that, if body measurements of the population are not current and accurate, all other aspects such as block patterns, sizing systems, and fit and wear testing cannot contribute to the achievement of an acceptable or proper fit. The following procedures were followed: <ul> <li> Literature and research on body measurements and sizing systems were studied.</li> <li> A survey was conducted among clothing and footwear manufacturers and retailers in South Africa, to determine the use of body measurements, problems experienced with body measurements, and knowledge of body measurement descriptions, what the South African sizing system entails, how block patterns are generated and how fit and wear testing is done.</li> <li>The research strategy consisted of postal questionnaires to all respondents and structured interviews with selected respondents.</li> <li>A comparison was made between the international and the respondents’descriptions of body measurements, with regard to consensus among the different descriptions.</li> <li>The findings conclude that various outdated and unscientific practices result in many problems being experienced by the industry. A wide variety of body measurements are needed and are used in the South African clothing industry and an alarming number of problems exist with regard to these measurements, probably resulting in the lack of well-fitting garments that satisfy the South African consumer. The problems experienced with the key dimensions are particularly alarming because these measurements are so important in achieving good fit. The supply of good quality garments to their target customers seemed to be a very important consideration to the retailers and manufacturers, but they need help in solving the problems identified.</li> <li> Recommendations include the establishment of a national standard for identifying landmarks and exact methods of how the measurements should be taken on the body, before a much needed survey of the South African population can be undertaken.</li></ul> Copyright / Dissertation (MConsSc)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Background: Digitalization and sustainability are two of the most impactful topics concerning businesses today which pose a nascent research field. Sustainability presents businesses with massive challenges in order to find new business models, improve processes, utilize resources more efficiently, and change their interactions with suppliers and other stakeholders. Simultaneously, digitalization is often characterized by its disruptive nature and the ways in which it creates new avenues for creating and capturing value and changes relationships. Furthermore, there are few industries in need of new ways to become more sustainable than the clothing industry.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the facilitating opportunities that digitalization presents for the clothing industry to achieve sustainability goals. The findings of this study are expected to contribute beneficial knowledge and concrete examples that managers, decision-makers, and IT personnel can use to better understand the existing prospects that digital transformation poses for their various sustainability goals.    Method: A qualitative design has been employed to perform this study. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with various individuals representing Swedish clothing brands. An inductive approach was utilized alongside a grounded theory design.   Conclusion: The results show that there are many opportunities for digitalization to facilitate clothing companies’ sustainability goals. This comes in the form of enabling effects with their downstream suppliers through: improved environmental traceability, shifting supplier relationships, and improving working condition transparency. Moreover, upstream effects are observed in adaptions to new business models and relationship improvements with consumers. Finally, within the firm, improving processes and shifting capability requirements are changing the way that firms operate, and the knowledge sets needed to function. These findings were developed into a framework presented on page 40.

No / In this article we examine how processes of globalization and the nature of emerging inter-firm relationships influence the organization of production in a post-socialist region, using the case of the clothing industry in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine. We combine insights from two perspectives, the global commodity chain approach and the new regionalism. The focus on both institutional setting and interfirm relationships is essential in regions undergoing rapid change. In the article we also use Burt's concept of structural holes and the idea of a competence-difficulty gap to examine the nature of relationships within networks of firms, arguing that global integration can be viewed as a bridging process. The evidence comes from surveys and fieldwork conducted between 1997 and 2004, providing a longitudinal analysis of the same firms. Among other findings, we show that the difficulty of doing business locally may make relationships more stable. With respect to industrial structure, international subcontracting and joint-venture arrangements enable technological modernization in assembly and parts of preassembly, but also result in the demise of high-value added competences.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Since the beginning of the nineteen-eighties factory shops in the clothing industry in the Cape Peninsula have had an increasing influence on the retail trade. Originally factory shops were mainly used by factories to sell damaged goods at the end of the season. On account of the (particularly) short product life cycle of their merchandise, clothing factories started to use factory shops more and more to sell quality clothes (e.g. overproduction, canceled orders, etc.) of a current season directly to the consumer. This approach brought about conflicts in the distribution channel as the traditional responsibilities and values of each channel member were rearranged. The clothing industry in South Africa in general, and in the Cape Peninsula, in particular, is controlled by 6 retailers. The forward integration by clothing factories (i.e. through establishing their factory outlets), inter alia, challenging the status quo as the leadership of the distribution channel had been questioned. Based on certain theories on distribution channel development and distribution channel entry, this study concentrated on determining the scope of factory shops, as well as on "establishing reasons for their development. Although environmental variables (e.g. inflation, backward vertical integration by retailers, economic conditions, etc.) have had a significant impact on the establishment of factory shops, clothing factories also realized the existence of excellent opportunities for profit maximization under adverse economic conditions. Primarily, it was the small who rose against factory threatened; in addition, independent clothing retailers shops as their existence was the leading position of large retailers came under threat. Several theories on the evolution of distribution channels make provision for the entry of factory shops. Factory shops entered the distribution channel with a strong emphasis on price strategy and little (or sometimes even no) emphasis on the non-price marketing instruments. However" with time factory shops increasingly incorporated non-price marketing instruments (e.g. promotion, distribution, and product). As a result of their incorporating additional services, factory shops were upgraded and may therefore face new competitors in the future. The South African experience of the influence and permanency of factory shops is too short to present any clear guidelines. However, if the development of factory shops in the retail structure of the United States of America is any indicator, factory shops will be a permanent add it ion to the distribution channel. Factory shops in the U. S.A. are not confined to the clothing industry but have expanded to include every imaginable consumer article. Retailers who originally pressurized clothing factories to close their factory outlets (selling quality and in-season merchandise) with have to accept and adapt to this interchange in the type of competition. Failing this, the independent retailer may disappear. Since the development of the hypermarket concept in the seventies, developments in the distribution channel in retailing stagnated. The consumer, therefore, was susceptible to the change that the entry of factory shops has brought about in the distribution channel of the clothing industry in the Cape Peninsula.

Nesta pesquisa, busquei entender como empresas da confecção de vestuário lidam com os resíduos resultantes do processo de produção. Para tanto, refleti sobre: o processo produtivo da confecção do vestuário em três empresas selecionadas, aqui nomeadas N, I e A; a geração de resíduos; as normativas legais que se aplicam ao gerenciamento de resíduos nas empresas de confecção; e as posições dos sujeitos que lidam cotidianamente com esse tipo de produção. Assim sendo, a hipótese que norteou a produção desta tese é a de que apesar de existir uma ampla normativa a regular o gerenciamento de resíduos e de tecnologias adequadas à produção, há procedimentos cotidianos do fazer que impedem um melhor funcionamento do processo. Como fundamentação teórica, convém compreender o que se entende por meio ambiente, desenvolvimento, desenvolvimento sustentável e moda. Além disso, com o intuído de apreender as práticas cotidianas dos sujeitos envolvidos com a produção do vestuário em relação aos resíduos, os conceitos de habitus e representação social são fundamentais. Utilizei uma metodologia de abordagem qualitativa, mais especificamente o estudo de casos múltiplos, e apliquei métodos de produção e análise de entrevista semiestruturada. A tese está estruturada conforme descrevo a seguir. No primeiro capítulo é apresentado o referencial teórico essencial à hipótese aqui formulada. Nele, explicito os conceitos empregados, assim como a metodologia utilizada para a realização da pesquisa. No segundo, abordo as normativas legais relativas ao gerenciamento de resíduos. No terceiro, apresento a especificidade do setor da confecção no município de Maringá. No quarto, contemplo o processo produtivo da confecção dentro das três empresas analisadas. No quinto, trago a análise do processo de gerenciamento de resíduos. No sexto, as percepções dos sujeitos sociais envolvidos no processo de produção. Por fim, apresento as considerações finais. Pude constatar que, de fato, ao passo que as normativas nacional e local pesam sobre o gerenciamento dos resíduos de forma a minimizar sua produção, ainda persistem formas de produzir que não só geram perdas significativas na indústria da confecção, como ainda resultam em uma destinação nem sempre correta dos resíduos gerados. Pude perceber que isso é decorrente da não assimilação das normas recomendadas nas leis nacionais e local, e que isso se explica pelo modo como os sujeitos envolvidos no processo de produção, como um todo, se apropriam dos entendimentos dessas normas e as representam em ações que mostram limites e possibilidades de atuações. Cabe considerar que as empresas estão inseridas no capitalismo e seguem as normas estabelecidas por esse sistema. Em relação às empresas estudadas, não as considero sustentáveis, mas menos impactantes ao meio ambiente, destacando a N, seguida da I e por fim a A. Também não vejo a possibilidade de se alcançar uma sociedade sustentável frente ao atual estilo de vida e a filosofia do capitalismo. / In the present research I sought to understand how businesses from the clothing industry deal with residues from the production process. To do so, I reflected on: the production process of clothing industries in the three selected companies, named here N, I and A; the residues generation; legal rulings which apply to residue management in the clothing industry; and the subject positions of those who deal daily with this king of production. Hence, the hypotheses which guided the theses is that although there is large legal ruling on residues management and proper production technologies, there are also daily procedures of doing which prevent the process from working better. As a theoretical base, it is relevant to understand what can be understood as environment, development, sustainable development and fashion. Supplementary, in order to encompass daily practices of the subjects linked with clothing production in relation to the residues, the concepts of habitus and social representation are paramount. I used a methodology of qualitative approach, namely the multiple case study, and applied production and analyses methods of semi structured interview. The thesis is structured as follows: in the first chapter the theoretical reference essential to the formulated hypothesis is presented. In it, I explain the concepts used as well as the methodology used to conduct the research. In the second, I discuss the legal ruling on residue management. In the third, I present the specificity of the clothing sector in Maringá town. In the fourth, I contemplate the production process of clothing within the three companies studied. In the fifth, I bring the analyses of the residues management process. In the sixth, the perceptions of the social subjects involved in the production process. Lastly, I present the final considerations. I could indeed verify that as there are national and local legal rulings weighing on the residues management in order to minimize its production, there still are ways in which production not only generates significant losses in the clothing industry, but also result in a not always correct destination of generated residues. I could realize that this results from subjects not assimilating the guidelines recommended in the national and local law, and that this can be explained by how subjects involved in the production process as a whole appropriate the understandings of the law and represent it in actions which show acting limitations and possibilities. It is important to consider that the companies are part of capitalism and follow the rules stablished by this system. As to the analyzed companies, I do not consider them sustainable, but with little impact on the environment, highlighting N, followed by I and A. I also do not see the possibility of reaching a sustainable society with the current lifestyle and philosophy of capitalism.