http://www.soc.duke.edu/~ggere/web/gereffi_jie_june_1999.pdf

International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain

The paper uses the global value chain framework to explain the transformations in production, trade and corporate strategies that altered the apparel industry over the past decades and changed the conditions for innovation and learning in the industry. The apparel industry is identified as a buyer-driven value chain that contains three types of lead firms: retailers, marketers and branded manufacturers. With the globalization of apparel production, competition between the leading firms in the industry has intensified as each type of lead firm has developed extensive global sourcing capabilities. While "de-verticalizing" out of production, these firms are fortifying their activities in the high value-added design and marketing segments of the apparel chain, leading to a blurring of the boundaries between them and a realignment of interests within the chain. Innovation in the global apparel value chain is primarily associated with the shift from assembly to full-package production. Full-package production changes fundamentally the relationship between buyer and supplier giving more autonomy to the supplying firm and creating more possibilities for innovation and learning. The paper distinguishes between three new models of competition in the North American market namely the East Asian, Mexican and Caribbean Basin model. Each model presents different perspectives and challenges for industrial innovation and learning.

/pdf/the-global-apparel-value-chain-what-prospects-for-upgrading-29bz6fyrgh.pdf

The Global Apparel Value Chain: What Prospects for Upgrading by Developing Countries?

There are three main drivers of economic globalization in the latter half of the 20th century: investment by transnational corporations, international trade, and the Internet. Whereas producer-driven and buyer-driven commodity chains characterize the phases of investment-based and trade-based globalization, respectively, the emergence of the Internet in the mid-1990s heralds a new age of digital globalization. The explosion in connectivity that is enabled by the Internet has launched an e-commerce revolution that is beginning to transform the structure of business-to-business (B2B) as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions in global industries. New infomediaries that navigate access to rich information and greater reach by businesses and consumers are prominent in B2C digital networks. The Internet’s most significant impact to date, however, has been in B2B markets, where e-commerce is reshaping the competitive dynamics and power alignments in traditional producer-driven and buyer-driven commodity chains such as automobiles and apparel. Globalization has become a prominent and controversial feature of the contemporary landscape. Although there are myriad processes and definitions associated with the economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions of globalization, this article is concerned primarily with the evolution of the global commodity chains that help to structure industrial change in the international economy. There have been three main drivers of economic globalization in the latter half of the 20th century: investment by transnational corporations (TNCs), international trade, and the Internet. Each has expanded the scope of global integration by altering how people, resources, and places are connected in economic transactions. This can be seen in three broad and to some degree overlapping phases of globalization: Investment-based globalization (1950-1970). The global reach of vertically integrated TNCs dates from the late 19th century in primary products (oil, mining, agriculture) and from the early decades of the 20th century in manufacturing

/pdf/shifting-governance-structures-in-global-commodity-chains-2m2iffz1i3.pdf

Shifting Governance Structures in Global Commodity Chains, With Special Reference to the Internet:

This study empirically analyzed whether consumers making apparel purchases would use a label guaranteeing certain working conditions were present during garment production. While a potential market segment for the No Sweat label was identified, evidence suggests that only a small percentage of consumers would be influenced by the label. This small market segment was profiled on its psychographic and demographic characteristics, and the extent to which the No Sweat label would influence future purchases was examined.

Utility of No Sweat Labels for Apparel Consumers: Profiling Label Users and Predicting Their Purchases

Globalization is changing the nature of work and business in the contemporary world economy. Debate today revolves around the implications of globalization’s transformative influence for firms and workers, particularly in the developing world. While capital is increasingly mobile, workers remain relatively place bound, and this tension between the global and the local demands new tools for policymakers studying labor issues, as well as new strategies for labor activists. The International Labor Office has focused on the relationship between globalization and employment in numerous studies, which explore a range of issues from working conditions in maquiladoras to the impact of information and communication technologies on the quantity, quality, and location of jobs (see ILO, 2001). Many of these studies have focused on the cross-border production and trade networks that are at the heart of economic globalization, asking about the impact of these networks in the communities where they touch down. The consensus that emerges from this literature is that cross-border networks can have positive as well as negative developmental consequences: “Globalization in a regional framework can boost development opportunities, but it may also undermine established local networks of backward and forward linkages” (ILO, 1996: 120).

/pdf/upgrading-uneven-development-and-jobs-in-the-north-american-4n037m2gtk.pdf

Upgrading, uneven development, and jobs in the North American apparel industry

I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Textiles and Apparel as a Global Sector. II. AN OVERVIEW: HISTORY, THE GLOBAL SETTING, THEORY. 2. Historical Perspective. 3. The Setting-An Overview. 4. Theoretical Perspectives. III. AN OVERVIEW OF THE GLOBAL TEXTILE AND APPAREL INDUSTRIES. 5. Global Patterns of Development. 6. Global Patterns of Textile and Apparel Activities. 7. The Textile Complex in Select Regions of the World. IV. THE U.S. TEXTILE COMPLEX IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. 8. An Overview of the U.S. Textile Complex. 9. The U.S. Textile and Apparel Industries and Trade. V. "MANAGING" TEXTILE AND APPAREL TRADE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. 10. Textile and Apparel Trade Policies. 11. Structures for Facilitating and "Managing" Textile and Apparel Trade. VI. BALANCING CONFLICTING INTERESTS IN TEXTILE AND APPAREL TRADE. 12. The Interests of Industry and Labor in Textile and Apparel Trade. 13. The Interests of Retailers and Importers in Textile and Apparel Trade. 14. The Interests of Consumers in Textile and Apparel Trade. 15. Policymakers and Textile/Apparel Trade. VII. CONCLUSION. 16. Conclusions: A Problem with No Answers. Appendix: Participants in the Multifiber Arrangement. Bibliography.

Textiles and apparel in the global economy

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Textiles and apparel in the global economy