This study examines the strategic and tactical measures companies exploit as a source of competitive advantage to outlive risk challenges and to seize the attendant opportunities in a volatile economic environment. Results from a series of in-depth interviews with senior executives of Hong Kong-based successful enterprises in the textile and apparel industry show that the participant companies have, though not under the banner of enterprise risk management (ERM), adopted to varying extents a proactive, enterprise-wide and holistic approach to combat and manage risks. The findings of the ERM maturity analysis attest that the tendency to use formal approaches to manage risk issues is positively related to an organization's size, scope of operations, and legal structure. The analyses also underpin that effective enterprise risk management should embrace proactive, future and external oriented strategic initiatives that create and enhance organizational resilience through the involvement of internal as well as external stakeholders.

Responsiveness to customers and markets is an indispensable requirement for all industries, particularly the fashion industry. The present study attempts to address this issue by employing a resource-based perspective as a lens for exploring the major antecedents and consequences of supply chain agility at both the strategic and operational levels. Drawing on a review of the extant literature, we argue that two organizational flexibility factors - strategic flexibility and manufacturing flexibility - are the critical antecedents to supply chain agility. In addition, supply chain agility, strategic flexibility, and manufacturing flexibility are all significant factors in firm performance. A conceptual framework for the arguments was developed and tested through an empirical study of selected industrial practitioners. Data from a sample of 141 garment manufacturers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that both strategic flexibility and manufacturing flexibility positively influence supply chain agility. However, strategic flexibility has a direct and significant influence on firm performance while manufacturing flexibility does not. Furthermore, supply chain agility plays an important role in mediating the effects of both strategic and manufacturing flexibilities on firm performance. The findings of the present study add to the understanding of supply chain management, with a focus on supply chain agility in the fashion manufacturing industry. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper describes the design and development of an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) for competitive analysis of social media in the fashion industry. A web-based prototype system is designed and developed to assist in monitoring the growing Internet media, protect fashion brands and products, and provide support for social media competitive analysis in the fashion industry through social media. In this study, a social media value grid that allows managers to use social media technology in the fashion business and add value for managers is proposed. Four propositions are presented as the research agenda in examining the ability of social media technology to improve the operations management of a fashion company.

The authors investigate strategic measures companies adopt to combat and manage risks in order to survive and grow in an unstable economic environment. Based on in-depth interviews with senior staff from six Hong Kong-based successful enterprises in the textile and clothing industry, they find that companies have adopted various enterprise-wide, holistic, and integrative approaches to effectively address and manage risks. Also found was that the use of a formal approach to manage risks by a company at a different stage of the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) maturity continuum is affected by its size, scope of operations, and legal structure. The findings from this study enhance the understanding of the relationship between organization structure and risk management.

This article provides a comprehensive review of research articles related to the application of decision support and intelligent systems in the textile and apparel supply chains. Data were obtained from 77 articles published from 1994 to 2009 in 35 journals. The articles were categorized according to their applicability into three basic sectors – textile production, apparel manufacture, and distribution/sales. They were further categorized into 16 subsectors based on their operational and management/control processes. A comprehensive list of categorized journal articles identified in this study provides insights and relevant references for both researchers and practitioners on the application of decision support and intelligent systems to various stages of a textile and apparel supply chain. In light of the developed classification framework, we identify gaps in extending the use of the decision support and artificial intelligent systems in the industry and suggest potential and applicable research areas for further consideration in this subject area.

In just one decade, social media have revolutionized the life of many people and thus attracted much attention, not only from industry, but also academia. To understand how researchers have adopted theories, used research constructs, and developed conceptual frameworks in their studies, a systematic and structured literature review based on five leading online academic databases was conducted. A total of 46 articles on social media research were consolidated and analyzed, including empirical studies spanning from 2002 to 2011. A collection of theories/models and constructs/attributes adopted in these articles is summarized and tabulated for easy reference and comprehension of extant research results. A causal-chain framework was developed based on the input-moderator–mediator-output model to illustrate the causality between the research constructs used and the conceptualization of theoretical models/theories proposed by previous researchers. Because social media cover a wide range of research topics, the literature review may not be exhaustive. However, the proposed causal-chain framework and suggested research directions may be regarded as representative references for future research in the subject area. This is believed to be the first comprehensive literature review of social media research, and it contributes to a better understanding of the causes and effects of the adoption and usage of social media.

A growing number of organisations around the world are considering the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems to improve their business and operations processes. In this study, a multi-stage implementation framework is developed and evaluated through a case study. The framework provides practitioners with a better understanding of the various stages of the RFID implementation process, including guidelines and issues with RFID systems implementation that need to be considered. We illustrate the viability of this implementation framework through a case study analysis of a textile dyeing and printing mill in China. We hope that the proposed framework will provide practitioners with a holistic perspective of implementing RFID systems.

The current dynamic market with impulse purchasing preferences from customers and unpredictable demands in fashion and textile industry has made the product life cycle for fashion product becomes shorter. There is a huge demand for new fashion products that leads a pressure for fashion enterprises to increase efficiency in responsiveness and distribution along supply chain. During the new product development process, the subjective hand evaluation process of fabric selection is the critical process and performed by trial and error method and huge amount of information are generated. In order to speed up the fabric selection process, a knowledge based system (KBS) is introduced. The proposed system adopts nearest neighbor technique and argumentation concept theory to support knowledge retrieval and solve the knowledge validation problem. The outcome of this study in real industrial application shows that the proposed system enhance a garment enterprise’s competitiveness by shortening the subjective hand evaluation process time of fabric selection through the provision of fabric knowledge and reliable information management support.

This paper describes the research and development of a radio frequency identification (RFID)-based personal shopping assistant (PSA) system for retail stores. RFID technology was employed as the key enabler to build a PSA system to optimize operational efficiency and deliver a superior customer shopping experience in retail stores. We show that an RFID-based PSA system can deliver significant results to improve the customer shopping experience and retail store operational efficiency, by increasing customer convenience, providing flexibility in service delivery, enhancing promotional campaign efficiency, and increasing product cross selling and upselling through a customer relationship management (CRM) system. In this study, an RFID value grid for retail stores is proposed that allows managers to use RFID technology in stores to add value to the shopping experience of their customers. Four propositions are presented as the research agenda for examining the ability of RFID technology to improve the operations management of retail stores.

Academic research into radio frequency identification (RFID) has proliferated significantly over the last few years, to the point where journals (Production and Operations Management, International Journal of Production Economics, IEEE Systems Journal, and IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering) are producing special issues on the topic. In this paper, we present a literature review of 85 academic journal papers that were published on the subject between 1995 and 2005. We organize these studies into four main categories: technological issues, applications areas, policy and security issues, and other issues. All of the papers in the review are allocated to the main and sub-categories based on their main focus. Our analysis of these papers provides useful insights on the anatomy of the RFID literature, and should aid the creation and accumulation of knowledge in this domain. A comprehensive list of references is also presented. It is hoped that the review will be a good resource for anyone who is interested in RFID research, and will help to stimulate further interest in this area. The implications for RFID researchers and practitioners and suggestions for future research areas are discussed.