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Analysis of a U.S. Fashion Brand’s Outsourcing from Bangladesh: A Case Study of Obstacles and Suggested Improvements

Hasan, H M Rakib ul
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3789-6029
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1501371150247671

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising (Education).
Since the 1960s, the United States (U.S.) has become one of the largest apparel importers in the world. Bangladesh plays a significant role as an outsourcing destination in the U.S. apparel industry by supplying a large quantity of low to medium price point products. From the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) era, Bangladesh is emerging as a great destination for global fashion brands. The purpose of this research is to examine apparel outsourcing from Bangladesh. This inquiry is guided by the following research questions: 1) How is Philips-Van Heusen (PVH)’s outsourcing performance from Bangladesh compared with Vietnam? 2) How do U.S. Fashion product buyers in PVH view their outsourcing from Bangladesh? 3) How do Bangladeshi fashion product suppliers of PVH view their exporting to the U.S.? and 4) How can this fashion supply chain be improved to make the future U.S.-Bangladesh fashion business sustainable? This research used a sequential mixed methods case study approach on a leading U.S. apparel manufacturing company. By using a supplier evaluation model, it is seen that Bangladesh is in a competitive position compared to Vietnam, the second largest apparel exporter to U.S. The model has five clusters of supplier performance areas and 20 factors under those clusters. For the cost cluster, the lower the cluster score, the better the performance. Out of the five clusters, Bangladesh (0.106) has a greater advantage in the cost cluster than Vietnam (0.281). Bangladesh (0.204) is also more advanced in the quality cluster than Vietnam (0.192). Bangladeshi suppliers performed better than expected in the capacity, negotiability, continuous improvement, and certification factors. In the second phase of the research, interviews were taken from buyers and their suppliers. Buyers have some concerns in the factor areas of geographic location, trade restrictions, country’s political situation, warranty policies, and currency exchange situations. Suppliers are not fully efficient in customization, total order lead time, and certification factors. However, the buyer is adjusting with them by making a flexible lead time schedule, ordering according to suppliers’ capacity, etc. The buyers’ training program and improvement program among suppliers are improving the suppliers’ ability to perform better. The buyer is straight forward regarding company’s standards including a feeling of trust and capacity. The buyer-driven industry is favoring the U.S. buyers in negotiation, customer service, and suppliers’ selling price factors. Although suppliers have some limited capability, the buyer is satisfied with the performance including capacity, inventory availability, supplier’s selling price, and negotiability factors. Suppliers have similar opinions compared to the buyer in freight terms, trade restrictions, capacity, customization, continuous improvement programs, certification, country’s political situation, etc. Suppliers showed their eagerness to upgrade their standard to the buyers’ requirements. But suppliers have dissatisfaction in terms of trade restriction, negotiability, and percent of on-time shipment factors. The researcher made some suggestions to improve the low performed factors. External stakeholders of the apparel industry, both at home and abroad, should collaborate with the buyers-suppliers to make those areas more sustainable. Future research is expected to explore more cluster level studies to reveal more detailed scenarios.
Mijeong Noh (Committee Chair)
109 p.
Textile Research
Apparel Outsourcing; Supplier Evaluation Model; Bangladesh; US Fashion Brand; Apparel Buyer; Apparel Supplier

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Citations

  • Hasan, H. M. R. U. (2017). Analysis of a U.S. Fashion Brand’s Outsourcing from Bangladesh: A Case Study of Obstacles and Suggested Improvements [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1501371150247671

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hasan, H M Rakib ul. Analysis of a U.S. Fashion Brand’s Outsourcing from Bangladesh: A Case Study of Obstacles and Suggested Improvements. 2017. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1501371150247671.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hasan, H M Rakib ul. "Analysis of a U.S. Fashion Brand’s Outsourcing from Bangladesh: A Case Study of Obstacles and Suggested Improvements." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1501371150247671

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.