O trabalho estuda a competitividade internacional do setor têxtil, através das interações da cadeia produtiva. Especificamente, se verifica como a internacionalização do varejo está influenciando a competitividade internacional dos fornecedores de confeccionados têxteis, especificamente aquelas com foco em vestuário e acessórios. Pretende-se contribuir, ainda, para o aperfeiçoamento da capacidade de competir internacionalmente do setor de confeccionados têxteis. O ponto de partida é a revisão teórica dos temas competitividade internacional, estratégias de globalização e alianças estratégicas, contrapondo-os com os casos, sete no total. Portanto, o método utilizado é o de estudo de múltiplos casos, sendo a seleção realizada através de visitas aos pontos de venda das empresas varejistas selecionadas, localizados na região metropolitana de São Paulo. Verificou-se que: (1) Em somente uma empresa há esforço para criar marcas internacionais; (2) A rede de relacionamentos pode ter desempenhado papel fundamental para o sucesso competitivo em muitas das empresas estudadas; (3) Somente uma das empresas brasileiras (há duas multinacionais na amostra) tem como estratégia aumentar o valor adicionado dos produtos vendidos pela empresa; (4) Há consciência, por parte de pelo menos uma empresa, que nem sempre mão-de-obra de baixo custo é garantia de sucesso neste setor; (5) Pode haver obstáculos dentro da cadeia têxtil para que as empresas de confeccionados atendam ao padrão de qualidade exigido pelos varejistas internacionais nos países desenvolvidos. O trabalho traz ainda muitos outros fatos e um quadro com recomendações para alguns dos casos estudados. / The study analyzes the international competitiveness of the textile sector through supply chain interactions. It specifically verifies how the globalization of the retail sector influences the international competitiveness of garment suppliers, all of them listed as vendors of international retailers operating in Brazil. The effort aims to contribute to enhancing the international competitive strength of garment makers. The starting point is a theoretical review of the themes: International Competitiveness, Globalization Strategies and Strategic Alliances; comparing the concepts with what was found in the field study. The research method is a multiple case study. Cases were selected through visits to the points-of-sale of the international retailers, all of them located in the metropolitan area of the city of Sao Paulo. The main findings are: (1) Only one company is endeavoring to create international brands; (2) The network of alliances might have had an instrumental role in the competitive success of many of the companies; (3) Only one of the Brazilian companies pursues the strategy of increasing the added value of the products it sells; (4) In at least one company there is awareness that low wages will not always bring success in this sector; (5) There might be hurdles in the textile supply chain that halt the garment makers to comply with the pattern demanded by international retailers in the operations they carry in developed countries. Many other interesting facts were found and a chart with recommendations to some of the cases studied is presented.

<p>Our common future involves many important challenges. People and nature need to improve the relationship in order to reach an ecologically sustainable development. In a society where consumption of products steadily increases, the consumer awareness about social and environmental issues connected to the products becomes an importent factor. More and more companies choose to work more actively with these issues and more and more products get labelled by some of the eco labelling organisations. From the cradle to the gate means that a study has been done on a part of a products life cycle. In this master thesis a pair of cotton trousers has been followed from the cotton field and through the manufacturing chain in order to sees how much resource that are connected to the cultivation and to the production. Methological approach has been Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) according to ISO 14040. The empirical material is collected in South India, in an area known for its intense cotton manufacturing. </p><p>Studies like this can be a good way of showing the environmental impacts of a certain product. LCI can for example work as a criterion for eco labelling, but the methodology could also support the overall environmental work in companies.</p>

<p>Context: The challenges in going from a system of planned economy to a free market system are without a doubt enormous both for countries and individual companies. One company that has been in this situation is Krenholm. Krenholm is an Estonian textile company. When Estonia gained its independence in 1991, Krenholm faced a completely different environment with no customers and market economy. After four very difficult years, Krenholm was bought by a Swedish company, Borås Wäfveri AB in 1995. At this point Krenholm was a state owned company in absolute chaos. A leap forward from that point in time brings us to the year of 2000. In this year Krenholm shows a profit of 21 Million SEK. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose with this study is to investigate how a company can successfully change from operating in a planned economy to operate with profit in a market economy. </p><p>Scope: The major time focus in this thesis is 1995 - 2002 and on a micro level of changes at Krenholm. The years from 1944 to 1995 provide a macro level background of the Soviet Union period and the transition of Estonia towards market economy. These periods are only analyzed in short. When analyzing Krenholm in the areas of managerial resources, strategy and structure, we will focus on top level management and exclude the more operational management conducted by managers on lower levels. In the same way we will solely research strategy on a high level and exclude the more detailed strategic planning on the operational level. Organizational culture will no be considered. </p><p>Method: To be able to fulfill our purpose we committed a case study of Krenholm, Narva. In our view Krenholm is a very suitable object of study, as an industrial company that has succeeded in adapting itself from being a company in a planned economy to being a profitable company in a market economy. We started of by acquiring an excellent preunderstanding. The most important step in doing so was an initial trip a trip to Krenholm. When ourfocus and frame of references were ready we went back to Krenholm and collected our primary data through interviews with key personnel. In total, 11 interviews were conducted at Krenholm; these included all the directing managers at Krenholm. We also conducted one mail interview with Narva Business Center and had an interesting meeting in Narva with a consultant at Krenholm from Borås Wäfveri. When we returned to Sweden from Estonia our empirical findings were analyzed with the help of our frame of references and we reached our conclusions. </p><p>Conclusions: We conclude that the characteristics of the industry that Krenholm was developed in many respects helped the company to succeed in its successful adaptation to the market economy environment. The single most important factor in Krenholms successful adaptation was however the privatization of the company. We also conclude that in the transition it is vital to develop the managerial resource base immediately in order to be able to survive and also later to develop competitive strategies for the future. On a micro level we found that it seems to be of vital importance who guides a company in the times off difficult and revolutionary change</p>

Context: The challenges in going from a system of planned economy to a free market system are without a doubt enormous both for countries and individual companies. One company that has been in this situation is Krenholm. Krenholm is an Estonian textile company. When Estonia gained its independence in 1991, Krenholm faced a completely different environment with no customers and market economy. After four very difficult years, Krenholm was bought by a Swedish company, Borås Wäfveri AB in 1995. At this point Krenholm was a state owned company in absolute chaos. A leap forward from that point in time brings us to the year of 2000. In this year Krenholm shows a profit of 21 Million SEK. Purpose: The purpose with this study is to investigate how a company can successfully change from operating in a planned economy to operate with profit in a market economy. Scope: The major time focus in this thesis is 1995 - 2002 and on a micro level of changes at Krenholm. The years from 1944 to 1995 provide a macro level background of the Soviet Union period and the transition of Estonia towards market economy. These periods are only analyzed in short. When analyzing Krenholm in the areas of managerial resources, strategy and structure, we will focus on top level management and exclude the more operational management conducted by managers on lower levels. In the same way we will solely research strategy on a high level and exclude the more detailed strategic planning on the operational level. Organizational culture will no be considered. Method: To be able to fulfill our purpose we committed a case study of Krenholm, Narva. In our view Krenholm is a very suitable object of study, as an industrial company that has succeeded in adapting itself from being a company in a planned economy to being a profitable company in a market economy. We started of by acquiring an excellent preunderstanding. The most important step in doing so was an initial trip a trip to Krenholm. When ourfocus and frame of references were ready we went back to Krenholm and collected our primary data through interviews with key personnel. In total, 11 interviews were conducted at Krenholm; these included all the directing managers at Krenholm. We also conducted one mail interview with Narva Business Center and had an interesting meeting in Narva with a consultant at Krenholm from Borås Wäfveri. When we returned to Sweden from Estonia our empirical findings were analyzed with the help of our frame of references and we reached our conclusions. Conclusions: We conclude that the characteristics of the industry that Krenholm was developed in many respects helped the company to succeed in its successful adaptation to the market economy environment. The single most important factor in Krenholms successful adaptation was however the privatization of the company. We also conclude that in the transition it is vital to develop the managerial resource base immediately in order to be able to survive and also later to develop competitive strategies for the future. On a micro level we found that it seems to be of vital importance who guides a company in the times off difficult and revolutionary change

Background Globalization has opened up new possibilities for firms of all sizes to operate internationally. In that context, especially small- and medium sized companies often have limited resources and market power, which makes efficient relationship building with new intermediaries a key component when entering foreign markets. Therefore, approaching foreign companies and potentially engaging in new business relationships should be a strategic managerial issue. Purpose The main objective is to analyze how Swedish SMEs in the textile industry should approach German buyers in accordance to their preferences, taking cultural differences into account, as well as maintaining and developing the relationship. The focus will primarily be on the on the stages where the initial contact has been made, thus aiming at advancing in the development process. For this to be achieved, Swedish sellers must know what values to communicate to their counterpart. Method A qualitative approach has been used in order answer the purpose of the thesis. We have gathered our data from ten in-depth interviews; five with Swedish sellers and five with German buyers. The essential part of the data collection was done over telephone. Conclusion The most critical components that are found to be vital in developing a successful buyer-seller relationship include trust, satisfaction and commitment with all their related aspects. It was found that the product offer plays a critical role in the Early Stage of the relationship development process. Communication is essential for the building of trust and satisfaction and supplements the actions of commitment shown by the parties. Having an understanding on what values the counterpart appreciates and when these are especially important in the respective stages of the relationship building enables the firm to adapt its relationship marketing to the buyers preferences in a cost efficient and successful way.

The aim of this thesis has been to analyse the textile industry of Prato between the years 1991 and 2001. The district has been examined in terms of population, employment, firms and international trade and we have examined the industry in the region weighted against the whole Italy. Moreover, the Location quotation has been used to measure the degree of specialization. Theories about cluster and industrial districts have been utilized to give a background to agglomeration of firms. The conclusions from our analysis are that Prato consists of a large group of firms acting in similar industry in a specific location. The district is highly dominated by small firms, which are engage in the production of a homogenous product through different stages. In terms of international trade, Prato has been able to increase its exports between the years 1995 to 2001. Furthermore, our examination of Prato shows a reduction of employment and number of firms operating within the textile sector, while the degree of specialization has increased. Our inference is that this contradiction is due to the decrease of the total textile industry in the whole country. / Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att analysera textilindustrin i Prato mellan åren 1991 och 2001. Regionen har analyserats i termer av befolkning, sysselsättning, företag och internationell handel, och vi har undersökt industrin i regionen i jämförelse med hela Italien. Dessutom har en lokaliseringskvot använts för att mäta graden av specialisering. Teorier om kluster och industriella distrikt har använts för att ge en bakgrund till hopsamling av företag. Slutsatsen vi har dragit från vår analys är att Prato består av en stor grupp företag som verkar inom en liknande industri på en specifik plats. Distriktet är till stor del dominerat av små företag vilka är sysselsatta i produktionen av en homogen produkt inom olika steg av produktionen. Gällande den internationella handeln har Prato lyckats öka sin export mellan åren 1995 och 2001. Vår undersökning av Prato har även visat en minskning av sysselsättningen och antalet företag inom industrin, men samtidigt en ökad grad av specialisering. Vår slutsats är att detta något motsägelsefulla beror på en minskning av den totala textilindustrin i hela landet.

European Union&amp / #8217 / s Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive forms a comprehensive framework for industries mentioned in the Annex 1 of the Directive concentrating on the reduction of the environmental impacts of the industrial activities which can be implemented by the BREF Documents that provide guidelines for each sector. Among those industries, textile is a water and energy intensive one. In the present study, gains in terms of energy and water consumptions were assessed in a denim producing textile mill following the adaptation of related BAT measures. In this respect, installation of flow meters, use of semi-counter current rinsing applications / minimization of wash waters in the water softening plant, reuse of concentrate stream from reverse osmosis plant and compressor cooling waters resulted in reduction from 6,000 to 4,850 tone/day of total water consumption in the period of January&amp / #8217 / 05-December&amp / #8217 / 07. Consequently, specific water consumption in the mill was decreased from 78 to 55 L/kg textile by 29:5% which is close to lower limit of the range suggested in BREF Textile Document (i.e. 50-100 L/kg fabric). Use of waste heat from finishing wastewater streams in heating up the washing waters, heat-insulation and maintenance applications in addition to BAT measures taken for water minimization reduced specific energy consumption from 0.0100 to 0.0091 Gcal/kg textile resulting in 9% reduction in the period of January&amp / #8217 / 05-December&amp / #8217 / 07, although, energy consumption was increased from 786 to 804 Gcal/day. This achieved level of specific energy consumption was in the reference range mentioned in BREF Textile Document (i.e. 8-20 kWh/kg fabric).

In the present study, the recovery of the indigo dyeing rinsing wastewater originating from a denim textile mill to the degree of reuse quality, which generally requires nanofiltration (NF), was investigated. In order to control flux decline and hence to maintain an efficient NF / coagulation, microfiltration (MF) and sequential MF plus ultrafiltration (UF) pretreatment process alternatives were tested. All pretreatment alternatives were optimized to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color load to NF. Coagulation process was investigated using the coagulants, aluminum sulfate (Al2(SO4)3.18H2O) and ferric chloride (FeCl3.6H2O) by running a series of jar tests. The results showed that coagulation process did not provide an effective and efficient pretreatment due to high dose of coagulant requirement. MF tests run by using 0.45, 2.5 and, 8 &micro / m membranes indicated that MF through 0.45 &micro / m pore-sized membrane is the best process providing 64% color and 29% COD removals, leading to a color value of 2493 Pt-Co and COD of 892 mg /L in the permeate. Application of sequential MF+UF filtration provided a significant benefit over single MF in terms of rejections and also permeate flux. UF applied after MF provided additional 62% color and 4% COD removals leading to 960 Pt-Co color and 856 mg/L COD. NF tests conducted using pretreated wastewater via single MF and sequential MF+UF indicated that single MF is the best pretreatment to NF and this treatment scheme provided 99% color, 97% COD and 80 % conductivity removals and satisfied reuse criteria.

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive from the European Union strives to achieve a high level of environmental protection by preventing or reducing the pollution emanating from industrial installations directly at the source. The Directive implies that the emission limit values should be set in accordance with each industry&rsquo / s Best Available Techniques (BAT). In the present study, water recovery and wastewater treatability alternatives developed beforehand were evaluated towards the evaluation of BATs for the management of wastewaters from a denim textile mill. For this purpose, an assessment that translates the key environmental aspects into a quantitative measure of environmental performance and also financial analysis were performed for each of the alternatives. The alternatives considered for water recovery from dyeing wastewaters were nanofiltration (NF) with coagulation and/or microfiltration (MF) pretreatment, ozonation or peroxone and Fenton oxidation. On the other hand, for the end-of-pipe treatment of the mill&rsquo / s mixed wastewater / ozonation, Fenton oxidation, membrane bioreactor (MBR) and activated sludge process followed by membrane filtration technologies were evaluated. The results have indicated that membrane filtration process providing 70 % water recovery with the least environmental impacts is the BAT for water recovery. On the other side, MBR technology has appeared as the BAT for the end-of-pipe treatment of the mill&rsquo / s mixed wastewater. A technical and financial comparison of these two BAT alternatives revealed that water recovery via membrane filtration from dyeing wastewaters is selected as the BAT for the water and wastewater management in the mill.

<p>The aim of this thesis has been to analyse the textile industry of Prato between the years 1991 and 2001. The district has been examined in terms of population, employment, firms and international trade and we have examined the industry in the region weighted against the whole Italy. Moreover, the Location quotation has been used to measure the degree of specialization. Theories about cluster and industrial districts have been utilized to give a background to agglomeration of firms. The conclusions from our analysis are that Prato consists of a large group of firms acting in similar industry in a specific location. The district is highly dominated by small firms, which are engage in the production of a homogenous product through different stages. In terms of international trade, Prato has been able to increase its exports between the years 1995 to 2001. Furthermore, our examination of Prato shows a reduction of employment and number of firms operating within the textile sector, while the degree of specialization has increased. Our inference is that this contradiction is due to the decrease of the total textile industry in the whole country.</p> / <p>Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att analysera textilindustrin i Prato mellan åren 1991 och 2001. Regionen har analyserats i termer av befolkning, sysselsättning, företag och internationell handel, och vi har undersökt industrin i regionen i jämförelse med hela Italien. Dessutom har en lokaliseringskvot använts för att mäta graden av specialisering. Teorier om kluster och industriella distrikt har använts för att ge en bakgrund till hopsamling av företag. Slutsatsen vi har dragit från vår analys är att Prato består av en stor grupp företag som verkar inom en liknande industri på en specifik plats. Distriktet är till stor del dominerat av små företag vilka är sysselsatta i produktionen av en homogen produkt inom olika steg av produktionen. Gällande den internationella handeln har Prato lyckats öka sin export mellan åren 1995 och 2001. Vår undersökning av Prato har även visat en minskning av sysselsättningen och antalet företag inom industrin, men samtidigt en ökad grad av specialisering. Vår slutsats är att detta något motsägelsefulla beror på en minskning av den totala textilindustrin i hela landet.</p>