Textile and Apparel Industries

Where's the Next China? Comparative Advantages of Bangladesh and Vietnam Apparel Industries

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Abstract

A growing number of retailers consider building collaborative relationships with global outsourced suppliers as a key strategy to ensure efficiency in their supply chain.Extant literature has suggested that the collaborative relationships with suppliers benefit retailers by allowing them to reduce cost, enhance product quality, and to deliver products on-time. Although collaborative relationships between fashion retailers and global outsourced suppliers have drawn great attention in the fashion industry, little research has explored collaborative relationships in the context of fashion supply chain. In addition, while fashion retailers recognize the positive effect of the collaborative relationship with suppliers on their performance, lack of understanding about their suppliers prevents fashion retailers from developing and managing such collaborative relationships effectively (Fawcett et al., 2015). Furthermore, although suppliers' perception and attitudes are identified as crucial factors in creating effective collaborative relationships between retailers and suppliers (Fawcett et al., 2015), not much research has illuminated collaborative relationships from the stance of global outsourced suppliers. To fill in the aforementioned void, we adopt a qualitative approach to identify the antecedents of building effective collaborative relationships between retailers and suppliers from the suppliers' perspectives, specifically in the domain of global fashion supply chain.

How to Cite:

Simpson, L., Jacobs, B., Nelson, S. & Karpova, E., (2016) “Where's the Next China? Comparative Advantages of Bangladesh and Vietnam Apparel Industries”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 73(1).