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The literature contains relatively little prescriptive guidance for establishing supply chain strategies in the luxury fashion marketplace. The focus has been on fashion rather than luxury fashion and the purpose of this paper is to identify and explore the critical supply chain success factors to consider when entering the Chinese luxury fashion marketplace.

Given the lack of research in this area an exploratory and in-depth case study was conducted with a niche UK textile manufacturer.

Findings from the case study suggest there are four critical success factors to consider when developing a business strategy to enter the Chinese luxury fashion marketplace.

The findings could guide managers that are developing a business case for entering the Chinese luxury fashion marketplace.

This case study provides novel insights to transformations in global supply chain strategy as luxury consumption is moving towards the east, which creates new challenges and demands for European manufacturers to respond, to sustaining a competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the alignment between product design and the supply chain and to identify how this alignment impacts on a firm's supply chain responsiveness and resilience.

An in‐depth case study methodology was adopted to uncover the strategies undertaken by one of the UK's fastest growing fashion retailers to create a competitive advantage through its management of the product design/supply chain alignment.

The findings of this case illustrate that not only is the alignment of product design with the supply chain important in improving competitive advantage for the focal company, but it also has a significant impact in improving supply chain resilience and supply chain responsiveness. This case illustrates how fundamental shifts in the organisation, particularly in integrating product design and supply chain have enabled the repositioning of the company from a low priced fashion store to becoming a leading global fast fashion retailer.

The paper provides guidance for companies seeking to improve supply chain costs and performance by a higher alignment of product design and the supply chain.

This case study highlights the importance of the product design/supply chain alignment and highlights the benefits of adopting a “design centric” approach. The findings from this paper also contribute to the growing debate on supply chain risk management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interface between product design and the supply chain and to develop a roadmap to the design centric business through better management of this interface.

A case study approach is adopted. This enabled the development of a roadmap to inform businesses on how to develop a design centric business integrated with the extended supply chain.

The research shows that successful companies will be those which seek to extend and develop the contribution of design into all aspects of their business. The roadmap to a design centric business enables firms to better position product design within their business processes and helps facilitate better integration between product design and the supply chain.

The findings from this research have been derived from a scoping study of a relatively small sample. However, the findings are grounded by a structured literature review and are generalisable to other industry sectors.

Design for the supply chain is an under‐explored area. The conceptual framework highlights the importance of the product design‐supply chain management interface and offers a roadmap for companies to develop a more design centric business.

The purpose of this paper is to address the increasingly important issue of the impact of product design on supply chain risk management in an era of global supply arrangements. The need to include product design considerations in the development of global supply chain strategies is highlighted.

The research methodology is based on an in‐depth longitudinal case study of a major UK retailer. Data collection tools included observation of supplier meetings/workshops, semi‐structured interviews and access to key company documentation and archives.

This paper provides a framework for design‐led supply chain risk management and thus presents a case for recognising design as more than a creative function but as a platform to manage risk in supply chains.

The empirical research reported in this paper is specific to the clothing manufacturing and fashion retail industry. Though the findings will most likely apply to all industries and supply chains where design has an integral role and plays an important part in the competitiveness of the final product, there would be benefit in extending the research into other sectors.

The increased trends to outsourcing and offshore sourcing and the elimination of trade barriers have added to the competitive pressures faced by clothing retailers, hence frameworks to manage supply chain risks are significant to the survival of companies from this sector.

Whilst there is a growing literature in the field of supply chain risk there is less empirical evidence providing practical examples of the impact of product design on risk. Design‐led risk management offers a novel approach to mitigating supply chain risk.

The aim of this paper is to develop a research agenda for risk and supply chain management. This is achieved by reviewing the literature on supply chain risk and locating it within the general literature on risk.

A review of the general literature on risk and the specific literature on supply chain risk was undertaken.

The paper shows that there are a number of key debates in the general literature on risk, especially in terms of qualitative versus quantitative approaches, which need to be recognised by those seeking to apply risk theory and risk management approaches to supply chains. In addition, the paper shows that the application of risk theory to supply chain management is still in its early stages and that the models of supply chain risk which have been proposed need to be tested empirically.

This is a literature review and, therefore, is based on secondary rather than primary sources.

The paper proposes a research agenda aimed at developing models of supply chain risk management based on combining the wider theory and practice of risk management with the needs and practices of supply chain management.

This paper brings together the literatures on general risk and supply chain risk; and identifies key issues and research questions which need to be addressed in applying risk management to supply chains.

Global sourcing can bring many benefits to organisations, but it can also expose them to a number of risks. The purpose of this study is to understand how managers assess global sourcing risks across the entire supply chain and what actions they take to mitigate those risks.

A multiple case study approach was used, involving 15 cases in seven different industries. Each case consisted of interviews with managers directly involved in the global sourcing decision, supported by documentary evidence. A cross‐case analysis was conducted to analyse patterns across different industries.

The study revealed that most companies do not have a structured supply chain risk management and mitigation system. Nevertheless they do use a number of informal approaches to cope with risk. The paper proposes that a multidisciplinary approach is required when dealing with global sourcing risks. It presents a classification of risks covering four categories: supply risk, process and control risks, environmental and sustainability risks, and demand risks.

The paper addresses a research gap concerning managers' approaches to assessing and mitigating supply chain risk in a global context. In this context, this study proposes a new categorisation for global sourcing risks and offers a characterisation of global sourcing risk mitigation strategies applicable to different industries.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of Generation Y from advanced and emerging economies towards the country-of-origin (COO) of fashion products.

The study was conducted by employing a qualitative research method. Virtual interviews in a chat room and e-mail interviews were conducted with 53 participants from 21 advanced and emerging economies.

The findings indicated that most Generation Y consumers perceive that fashion products made in advanced economies are of better quality compared to those made in emerging economies. However, most Generation Y consumers from advanced economies did not only pay attention to the quality of the products but also to associated ethical issues. In contrast, most Generation Y consumers from emerging economies only paid attention to functional issues. Furthermore, Generation Y’s perceptions of COO also influence their attitudes and behaviour towards the fashion products made in their own country.

This research brings a valuable insight to global fashion marketers about different perceptions between Generation Y consumers in advanced and emerging economies towards COO.

The majority of COO research has been conducted quantitatively and based on one or a small number of nationalities. Qualitative studies which investigate the perceptions of Generation Y from advanced and emerging economies towards COO are still limited. Thus, this study can contribute to the development of research into COO.