Sustainable collaborative supply networks in the international clothing industry: a comparative analysis of two retailers

Abstract

Collaborative supply networks in the international clothing industry are of major economic significance in many countries, particularly in developing economies. The sector has gone through substantial changes in the last decade with the abolition of trade barriers and the increasingly dominant position of major retailers and brand owners in supply networks. The sustainability of clothing supply networks is subject to increasing public scrutiny. In this work, the characteristics and operation of collaborative clothing supply networks have been analyzed. Two contrasting supply networks -one for a major leading brand retailer and one for a major supermarket retailer -are analyzed and compared from a sustainability perspective.The challenges in assessing economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability at a network level are highlighted. The results show a minimum compliance culture in the supermarket supply network, whereas the leading brand retailer demonstrates a much higher level of proactive and positive sustainability practices and actions across the network. The study highlights the benefits of a strongly collaborative network in helping to facilitate and enhance a sustainability agenda. The implications of the study are discussed for retailers, manufacturers and policy makers, as well as for the governance of collaborative supply networks more generally.

Social Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Textile and Apparel Industry—A Literature Review

“…This seems to be key too shedding light on the non-transparent textile/apparel supply chain and to making more representative propositions. [73] x 0 x MacCarthy & Jayarathne [91] 0 0 0 Baskaran et al [98] 0 0 0 Anner [68] x x x Miller & Williams [78] x 0 0 Locke et al [72] x 0 0 Yu [80] x 0 x Hoang & Jones [89] 0 0 x Mamic [94] 0 x 0 Perry & Towers [4] x 0 0 Huq et al [45] x 0 x Auchter [87] x x x Krueger [88] x x 0 Gupta & Hodges [81] x 0 x Posthuma & Bignami [70] x 0 0 Stigzelius & Mark-Herbert [74] x 0 x Baskaran et al [102] 0 0 0 Jiang et al [79] x 0 x TOTAL 27 16 16 Appendix C Table C1. Forty-five relevant papers appearing in focal company categories.…”

“…Hence the usual case is that these buyers pass on pressures to their suppliers to be compliant with local, national, and international laws, as well as labor standards and a company's code of conduct. This has been mentioned by nine papers [67,71,91]. Stigzelius and Mark-Herbert [74] interviewed factory managers in India and found that the implementation of the SA8000 standard is strongly required by western buying firms.…”

“…Another six papers paid attention to a focal company's opportunity of differentiation and, thus, enhanced competitiveness through the implementation of social risk management practices [74,82,92]. In that regard, McCarthy and Jayarathne [91] indicate the potential of retailers to become more competitive in the market, not only to be a fashion leader but also to consider becoming an ethical leader. One further factor that initiates a focal company to implement social risk management practices throughout its supply chain is to improve its operational performance and productivity, such as quality, cost, labor turnover, and delivery issues, as employees feel more motivated to work for a socially responsible corporation [13].…”

“…For a more detailed insight, one can consider stakeholder drivers in the earlier section. Ergo, focal companies formulate codes of conduct or become members of MSI groups to gain legitimacy and enhance their brand image [69,82,88,90,91]. Another six papers paid attention to a focal company's opportunity of differentiation and, thus, enhanced competitiveness through the implementation of social risk management practices [74,82,92].…”

“…This is not surprising, as it is also a present and important factor for the focal company. Four papers mention this, and report how ethic responsibility of factory managers is the base for being socially compliant [45,85,90,91]. The study of Perry and Towers [4] shows how Sri Lankan suppliers switched from producing fast fashion to basic garments, which enabled the managers to forecast more accurately (avoiding under/overbuying) and reduce price pressures, since they were able to integrate the buyers to these processes and jointly improve efficiency.…”