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The purpose of this paper is to determine how national cultural context may be harnessed to support corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation when sourcing fashion garments from developing country manufacturers.

A qualitative case study approach was adopted, using purposive sampling to select seven export garment manufacturers of varying size and business model in Sri Lanka. Primary data were collected through on‐site, face‐to‐face interviews with managerial level and operational level informants within each company and through non‐participant observation within factory environments.

It was found that harnessing the local cultural context can support and progress CSR implementation at the factory level: in Sri Lanka, the Buddhist philosophy provided the moral underpinning and hence facilitated supplier engagement with CSR implementation. The presence of governmental support reduces the likelihood of CSR transgressions by adding an extra level of accountability for suppliers. Furthermore, the level of socioeconomic development also affects CSR implementation, as managerial competency increases with higher education levels.

Analysing the success of CSR implementation in the Sri Lankan export garment manufacturing industry enables the identification of country‐specific factors which support CSR implementation. The managerial perspective taken within the research would be of use to fashion brands and retailers that are looking for ways of progressing CSR implementation in their global supply chains.

This paper presents industry‐specific data from a key global garment manufacturing country on a commercially sensitive subject. It identifies factors within the national cultural context that support CSR implementation in the fashion supply chain.

The total essence of apparel manufacturing buildings (AMBs) is highly influenced by fire incidents which are caused direct or indirect impacts to the present building structure or even in old age. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the fire risk of AMBs in Sri Lanka.

A literature review was conducted to explore the local and international fire incidents in AMBs and identify 24 factors that contribute to fire risk of AMBs. A questionnaire survey with professionals who have the knowledge and experience related to past fire incidents and 18 interviews with professionals of fire safety management were carried out. Content analysis was involved to evaluate interviewees’ opinions and relative importance index was involved to rank identified factors that contribute to the fire risk of AMBs.

The results revealed that due to the business nature of AMBs hold a high risk for fire incidents. The study discovered 83.4% of high fire risk prevailing in AMBs in Sri Lanka. Faulty wiring, welding work with electrical sparks and accumulation of waste fabric, paper and other garbage recognized as the top three factors that contribute to the fire risk of AMBs in Sri Lanka. Finally, the strategies proposed to eliminate identified all 41 factors that contribute to the fire risk of AMBs in Sri Lanka.

The paper helps to guide facility owners regarding the fire safety of AMBs in Sri Lanka.

This paper aims to assess the impact of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices on the triple bottom line’s economic, social and environmental performance of Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers.

This quantitative study uses a deductive approach. The practice-based view is used to support the conceptual framework. The partial least square structural equation modelling technique empirically assessed the conceptual model using 164 responses from Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers through a structured survey questionnaire. Apart from examining the direct effects of GSCM practice on the triple bottom line, the study also investigated the moderating effects of firm size and duration.

The results show that GSCM practices positively affect the organisation’s triple bottom line while business size and duration moderate the said relationship.

The fact that this study is based on Sri Lankan apparel producers may impact the generalizability of the findings across different industries and countries. Furthermore, the survey only looked at export manufacturers. This raises questions about the results’ relevance to other non-export groups of the current population with distinct characteristics.

The paper provides insights for both academia and practitioners on the importance of adopting GSCM practices for the business performance of apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka. The paper includes implications for devising strategic solutions for organisational performance and sustainability by using GSCM practices in apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka.

The research contributes to the body of knowledge in the GSCM field in general. This research also contributes to the limited literature on GSCM practices in Sri Lanka. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to explain how apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka are organised.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between economic upgrading (implementing higher value-added activities) and social upgrading (improvements in workers’ rights and employment) of supplier firms in global value chains (GVCs) governed by multinational enterprises (MNEs). This paper answers Buckley and Ghauri’s (2004) and Buckley and Strange (2015) calls to incorporate other theoretical approaches within the international business (IB) literature. Furthermore, the paper also responds to Lee and Gereffi (2015) argument, published in Critical perspectives on international business, of the need to incorporate the social impact of upgrading in the IB literature.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with representatives from five supplier firms each in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as with industry representatives.

Governance patterns within GVCs can create the conditions for economic upgrading leading to social upgrading achievements. Institutional factors also affect the conditions for social upgrading. Although moving to higher value-added activities is critical for supplier firms, this does not necessarily lead to social upgrading. This paper’s research findings suggest that the combination of economic and social upgrading is positively associated with suppliers manufacturing high value-added products and operating in relational networks. In contrast, economic upgrading, by itself, was limited to those firms manufacturing low value-added products, typically those in captive networks.

This research is among an emerging body of literature seeking to integrate the GVC literature with the IB field. Importantly, it also contributes to the GVC literature by providing insight into an under-theorized aspect – the relationship between social and economic upgrading.

The main purpose of this paper is to assess the technological view of apparel new product development (NPD) process through a framework for improving the efficiency of NPD process in Sri Lankan apparel industry.

The study uses literature review, a survey and in-depth interviews of industry experts for data collection. Descriptive analysis and correlation analysis are used to identify the relationship between NPD process performance and Industry 4.0 (I4) technology components.

All technology components are enablers of NPD process, yet the relative importance of technology components varies within the NPD life cycle. Technoware is identified as the most significant, while Humanware component is the least significant for the advancement of I4 technologies in the NPD process.

Despite the novelty of research investigation into NPD process using I4 technologies in apparel industry, it is limited to one geographical location and a small segment of the industry.

This paper assists apparel industry practitioners to better understand and prioritize I4 technology components in the NPD life cycle for their successful adoption and for reaping the benefits.

This research generates new knowledge on the adoption of I4 technologies using industry insights into technology components mapped/aligned with key stages of NPD life cycle.

This study aims to explore the managerial conception of the determinants and barriers of sustainability integration into management control systems (MCS) of manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. Although existing literature has explored the factors that influence the adoption of specific management controls to handle environmental and social issues, the role of management conception has been underrepresented. Specifically, literature is scarce in identifying contextual and organisational factors that influence corporates beyond mere adoption of controls but to integrate with regular controls, especially in developing countries such as Sri Lanka.

A multiple case study approach has been used to identify the management conception of barriers and enablers for sustainability control integration. The analysis is conducted based on a theoretical framework extending the work of Gond et al. (2012) and George et al. (2016). To obtain an in-depth and multifaceted view, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in charge of different functional departments of five manufacturing companies.

The findings identified managers’ perceived factors, such as environmental impact, stakeholder pressure (customer, competitor and regulatory authorities) and top management commitment, showing a clear difference between strongly and weakly integrated companies. Contrary to the literature, domestic regulatory pressure and multinational ownership do not sufficiently drive MCS sustainability integration.

The findings have implications for managers and practitioners to anticipate the potential barriers and determinants of sustainability integration and provide guidance to take proper measures to deal with them when designing and implementing their MCS.

The study adds value to the literature by presenting a theoretical framework based on the triangulation of different theories to recognise the significance of management idea in sustainable integration. Furthermore, because sustainable integration of MCS is a novel idea, this research is one of the earlier attempts to highlight problems from the perspective of developing countries.

Research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka has received relatively less attention of management scholars. To date, there has been no major review of the content of management research in these rapidly growing economies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by reviewing management research in these six countries over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2014.

An electronic search of 11 databases was carried out using 53 search terms pertaining to the field of management. Only articles in journals rated A*, A, or B by the Australian Business Deans Council and either Q1 or Q2 in the Scopus/Imago ratings were included in the study. The articles were then classified as belonging to one of the divisions of the Academy of Management. Results are presented in thematic clusters, highlighting the major focus of management research in these countries.

A total of 211 articles were identified as a result of the search process. The highest number of articles (n=54) were classified under the “Public & Non-Profit.” This was the only area common to research in all six countries as represented by the selected articles. The results are reviewed from an ecological and institutional theory perspective which suggests that the various dimensions of the local environment are reflected in the type of management research emerging from these countries. The paper concludes that these countries represent “greenfield sites” in terms of research opportunities for management scholars from all over the world.

This review approach adopted in this paper is unique and represents an attempt to be as inclusive as possible without sacrificing quality. This is the first comprehensive and systematic review of management research in these six countries.

An increasing number of organisations in developing countries are implementing management accounting innovations in order to generate improvements in accounting practices, which should ultimately impact on financial performance. This study aims to focus on the implementation of one such innovation, total quality management (TQM), among apparel companies in Sri Lanka, to determine the impact on business strategy, management practices and performance reporting.

A survey is conducted of Sri Lankan companies to identify differences in their management practices depending on whether or not they have implemented TQM.

The results demonstrate a significant difference in the business strategy implemented by the two groups, with those companies adopting TQM regarding quality as more important than cost efficiencies. Significant differences in both quality management practices and performance reporting systems were observed, except in the area of employee empowerment.

The research is subject to the normal limitations of survey research, and its scope means that the findings may not be generalisable to industries other than garment manufacturing, or outside Sri Lanka. The findings should motivate comparative studies to determine the influence of both industry setting and national culture on the results.

The absence of employee empowerment is an important finding, with long‐term implications for the competitiveness of the Sri Lankan apparel industry, suggesting that corrective action is necessary.

The study is one of the few to examine improvements in organisational performance in developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of management control systems (MCS) in strategically responding to institutional pressures for sustainability (IPS). Drawing on institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) and strategic responses to institutional pressures framework (Oliver, 1991), the study argues that organisations strategically respond to IPS using MCS.

Data were collected by interviewing sustainability managers of a large-scale multinational apparel manufacturing organisation with its headquarters in Sri Lanka.

The study finds that organisations actively respond to IPS using acquiescence, compromise, avoidance, defiance, and manipulation strategies. The results not only reveal that formal MCS play a critical role in complying with IPS, but also in more active responses, including compromise, avoidance, defiance, and manipulation. The findings highlight that organisations use MCS as a medium to respond strategically to IPS, and in turn, the use of MCS has important implications for organisational change and improvement.

The study has implications for Western organisations, finding that suppliers committed to sustainability in Asia strategically respond to IPS as a means of strengthening outsourcing contracts, instead of blindly accepting. Findings indicate that organisational changes and success seem to be a function of strategically responding to IPS rather than operating an organisation by neglecting sustainability challenges. The organisational ability to use MCS in strategically responding to IPS has the potential for long-term value creation.

This study provides novel insights into the MCS, strategy and sustainability literatures by exploring different uses of MCS tools in strategically responding to IPS. More specifically, it shows how the use of MCS tools varies in supporting strategic responses, and with respective IPS. In doing so, it enhances our understanding of the importance of the use of MCS in dynamics of institutional change and practical variances in strategically responding to IPS.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of perceived organisational support (POS) on the relationship between participation in decision making (PDM) and affective commitment, and PDM and job satisfaction in lean production in Sri Lanka.

A random sample of 616 shop‐floor employees engaged full‐time in export‐apparel manufacturing firms, which have implemented a formal lean production system in the whole manufacturing function and where lean production has become the standard of operation for at least one year in Sri Lanka, responded. Regression analysis was used to test hypotheses.

It was found that POS moderates the relationship between PDM and affective commitment, and PDM and job satisfaction.

The literature suggests that the bottom‐line changes often cited in lean implementation success stories, such as reduced inventories and faster flow times, are not the only results that should be considered. The potential detrimental effects on employees should be considered as well, or turnover and morale problems may sabotage the effectiveness of such implementations. However, the manner in which the lean production environment influences employee behaviour has received scant empirical attention. The findings of this study provide interesting implications to practice and will be a source of general guidance in stimulating future research in this area.