Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Apparel Industry

Plieth, Hanna; Bullinger, Angelika C.; Hansen, Erik G.

doi:10.9774/gleaf.4700.2012.sp.00009

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Radical eco-innovations have the ability to change entire industries through dramatic changes to products, as seen with recent developments in electric vehicles, or through significant process innovations such as sourcing from home markets to reduce carbon emissions and gain more control over labour conditions (e.g. American Apparel in the US, or Manomama in Germany) (Plieth et al, 2012;Porter and Kramer, 2011;Hansen and Große-Dunker, 2013). Johnsen (2011) believes that it is insufficient to focus purely on the involvement of suppliers connected directly to the firm when seeking radical innovations.…”

Section: Creating Multiple Weak Ties With Suppliersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing eco-innovations: a three-stage typology of supply networks

Roscoe

Cousins

Lamming

2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

118

101

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a b s t r a c tThis paper uses grounded theory to develop and deepen our understanding of eco-innovation. It presents, through a series of four propositions, a three-stage supply network typology to help scholars and managers consider how best to develop these innovations. This typology was constructed by reviewing existing sustainability frameworks that argued that innovation was a key factor in sustainability. Moreover we found little consideration given on how to discover and develop eco-innovations. The literature proposes that a firm with strong ties with a few strategic suppliers will benefit from the knowledge and technology that spills over from suppliers to the firm during the new product development process. In contrast, the network literature explains that the creation of multiple weak ties to non-strategic suppliers may increase opportunities for identifying innovation. The network literature further suggests a third and potentially more promising route: building weak ties to suppliers that bridge 'structural holes' in the network. We suggest that strong ties with strategic suppliers will lead to the development of incremental eco-innovations while weak ties with multiple suppliers and with suppliers that bridge structural holes will tend to lead to radical eco-innovations. Finally, we suggest that once ecoinnovations are developed they should be embedded in the operational processes of other suppliers to increase the sustainability performance of the focal firm.

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Section: Creating Multiple Weak Ties With Suppliersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing eco-innovations: a three-stage typology of supply networks

Roscoe

Cousins

Lamming

2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

118

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One interesting development is the upsurge of new brand manufacturers such as manomama in Germany (Plieth et al 2012), Switcher in Switzerland, and American Clothing in the USA, operating with innovative business models based on regional value creation through vertical integration and thereby offer entirely different solutions to broader social (and ecological) problems-together demonstrating the importance of new business models for sustainability (Schaltegger et al 2012(Schaltegger et al , 2016. Another is of course to deal with (planned) fashion obsolescence as the root cause for the every accelerating take-make-waste cycles in "fast fashion".…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This covers most of the value chain. The value creation remaining in Western countries is mostly limited to value-added services such as design and overall brand management (exceptions are some new entrepreneurial firms experimenting with new business models based on local production; e.g., Plieth et al 2012). This relocation of value-chain activities to low-wage countries has increased the sustainability challenges because it becomes ever more difficult to manage or even oversee labour and ecological practices at supplier sites in these supply chains (Harms et al 2013).…”

Section: Overview Of Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstreaming of Sustainable Cotton in the German Clothing Industry

Hansen

Schaltegger

2016

Sustainable Fibres for Fashion Industry

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This chapter analyses the sustainability-oriented transformation of clothing industries. Although sustainability pioneers introduce new products in niche markets, incumbents advance them into the mass market. Together this can lead to the transformation of industries, markets, and consumer habits. We examine the German clothing retail industry with a focus on organic cotton and related sustainable fibres. The analysis covers some of the largest German textile retailers. Data collection is based on publicly available sources. We find that in the late 1970s, Hess Natur pioneered organic cotton practices and supported the development of sustainability standards in the clothing industry. Although in the beginning this was largely a phenomenon in niche markets, some of the organic practices have now diffused amongst mainstream retailers. This is counterintuitive because previous theory suggests that incumbents only adopt practices with significantly lower sustainability standards than do niche companies. The findings can support managers to better understand their organization's role in the transformation of industries and markets toward sustainability, and-vice versa-understand how the transformation may affect them. Leading the transformation challenge by adopting organic and other sustainable supply chain practices can be an important measure for market success.

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“…As the challenges mount global enterprises are facing increasing pressure to meet changing social, environmental and economic standards (Plieth et al, 2012). Theoretically, businesses that strive to be environmentally friendly or socially advancing should grow and prosper but empirical studies show that translating these concepts into reality is difficult.…”

Section: Introduction1mentioning

confidence: 99%