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The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impacts of quota elimination on the world clothing trade.

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was undertaken based on trade statistics of 51 clothing exporters from 2000 to 2009 provided by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

First, exporters’ performances in response to quota elimination overall were suggested unequal among countries located in different geographic regions of the world. Second, clothing exporters located in different geographic regions were suggested having unequal results of compound annual growth rate from 2005 to 2009 and market share changes from 2000 to 2009. Third, it was suggested that European countries were achieving faster clothing export growth from 2005 to 2009 and more market share gains from 2000 to 2009 than the rest of the world; and that China was also achieving more market share gains from 2000 to 2009 than other clothing exporters.

Although China once again was suggested as one of the largest beneficiaries of quota elimination, the paper's findings remind us that neither China's gains nor some other countries’ losses should be exaggerated. The findings also call attention to the influence of geographic location as a key factor shaping the pattern of the world clothing trade in the post‐quota era. Also, the findings suggest special care be given to African clothing exporters in the future.

The paper evaluates the real impacts of quota elimination on the world clothing trade by taking a global perspective based on updated data.

Discussions about the elimination of apparel quotas have focused on countries that obviously benefit or are harmed by their demise. Little attention has been paid to countries for which the post-quota environment is uncertain – and vital. As quotas were lifted in January 2005, uncertainty loomed particularly large for Turkey, the world's fourth largest apparel exporting nation. This paper utilizes secondary data and a survey to chronicle Turkish apparel exporters’ strategic expectations, preparations, and responses to the post-quota environment. The case details the unexpected consequences of quota elimination for the industry, including how the new competitive environment catalyzed many manufacturers to locate production in foreign lands.

Prior to the liberalisation of the clothing and textiles sector under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) fears had been expressed about the potential impact on developing country suppliers. This paper seeks to establish the actual impact of the liberalisation of the EU and US clothing markets.

Comparison of trade figures pre and post liberalisation.

The paper finds that, as forecast, significant changes occurred in sourcing patterns in the EU almost overnight. The big winners were India and China. Almost all other developing countries lost market share, although often not as much as had been feared. The impact of the liberalisation was mitigated somewhat by the new quantitative restrictions negotiated with China half way through the year, which resulted in a redistribution of market share to other developing countries. Comparisons with the USA indicate that trends are rather similar, although on that market more developing countries saw increases in their exports, partly cancelling out losses in the EU.

This is believed to be the first attempt to assess the real world impact of the liberalisation of the clothing sector.

This paper examines and divulges the impacts of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on textile and clothing (T&C) exports from selected South and Southeast (S&SE) Asian developing countries and the NAFTA members to the USA.

A gravity model of sectoral‐level analysis was employed to analyze the effects of the NAFTA on T&C trade among member and non‐member countries. Regional indicator variables were used to identify the change in the T&C trade effect arising from the free trade area (FTA).

The increase in T&C intra trade within the NAFTA could be shown by the increasing trend of the regional indicator variables in three consecutive time intervals from 1990 to 2001 in the regression model. However, the indicator variables of both the T&C trade models decline substantially to negative value in the period 2002‐2005. This is consistent with the current situation that the total export trade among the NAFTA partners has trended downwards in subsequent years. The descending trend of the intra‐NAFTA T&C trade could be attributed to the increasing competition from S&SE Asian countries with the gradual phasing out of quotas under the Agreement of Textiles and Clothing and the further elimination of quotas after 2005.

The value of this research in assessing the correlation between NAFTA on the T&C trade can show S&SE Asian developing countries the importance of them within their emerging economy. This study shows the specific impact of the FTA and offers a vital insight on global T&C trade.

The textiles and clothing sector employs millions of people in the European Union (EU) and has a combined annual turnover of more than €200 billion. Over the last decade or so, more than a million jobs have been lost in the industry, partly through modernisation, but mainly as a result of international competition, especially from developing countries. This competition is set to intensify with the abolition of import quotas in 2005, leaving the EU industry facing an uncertain future. This article explores five key drivers that are likely to affect the sector profoundly over the coming decade. For each driver, three “outlooks” have been articulated: an extrapolation of current trends and drivers (“Alpha” outlook), a situation where many things “go wrong” (“Beta” outlook), and a situation involving more visionary outcomes (“Delta” outlook). The aim is not to forecast the future, but rather to explore plausible outcomes for the industry over the coming decade. On this basis, a number of policy areas have been identified where the European Commission (EC) and Member States will need to address future threats and opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new approach to market analysis, and test how the China‐US soybean market integration and arbitrage efficiency have changed across 1995/1‐/2004/1 – a period covering strengthened government efforts to join WTO, and the institutional changes following WTO accession.

The authors employ a regime‐switching model with parametric, semi‐parametric, and nonparametric measures to discern different market conditions in the sample period, as well as detect the structural shifts over time. Three types of data – expected prices, transaction costs, and trade flow – are used for the analysis.

Results of the analysis indicate better integration over time, but deteriorating efficiency. The markets often departed from efficient arbitrage throughout the study periods, and counter‐intuitively worsened after China's elimination of quota in 1999, and accession to WTO in 2001. One other interesting finding is that the state monopoly practice in soybean trading during the early periods produced seemingly competitive equilibrium price relationships.

The paper is an original work that provides policy implications regarding the impacts and effectiveness of government policies on China's international soybean markets, the remaining bottlenecks, and the challenge to both Chinese soybean farmers and the US exporters. The method of identifying trade variation in a price model and the combination of parametric and semi‐parametric analyses with comprehensive data further permits more accurate and intuitive interpretations previously unavailable.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and map trends in the Canadian apparel industry (in a global context) and, through the application of Porter's models, establish strategies that could be employed by Canadian small and medium enterprizes (SMEs) in response to the move toward trade liberalisation since the phasing out of the multi‐fibre arrangement.

The literature review established trends in the apparel industry both in Canada and globally. Qualitative research in the form of case studies highlighted apparel suppliers' perceptions of Canada's strengths and weaknesses as a business setting and provided preliminary information on possible supplier activities which provide value and competitive advantage. The analysis of the primary data also allowed the development of preliminary questions, answers to which will further enhance the understanding of clusters and their applicability to Canada's apparel SMEs.

Canada's apparel manufacturing industry is winding down while imports are continuing to grow. At the same time, the Canadian market is not large enough to sustain all the suppliers, thus forcing those who are competitive to export, primarily to the USA, which is Canada's major apparel export destination. The morphology of related and supporting industries to apparel suppliers is changing. The findings suggest that Canada's apparel supply is becoming more of a service and less of a manufacturing industry.

This paper provides an understanding of Canada's position in the global apparel map and ascertains whether competitive cluster strategies exist for the Canadian apparel industry. Furthermore, it sets the stage for further research by identifying knowledge gaps pertaining to the applicability of clusters to the apparel industry and providing data and findings to bridge these gaps.

For over a decade, total quality management has been a principle focus of business managers and academic researchers alike. The myriad prescriptions and practices, all purporting to represent this management philosophy, have been implemented with varying degrees of success. Despite the significant failure rate of TQM programs, the successes, as indicated by Baldrige Award winners, support continued interest in TQM. The search for linkages between current descriptive models and proposed prescriptive models of TQM spawned our research, which, in turn, required creation of a survey instrument. This paper describes the initial sources and development of this instrument, the rigorous sequence of testing that it has been subjected to, and its application for current and future research. The successful achievement of key survey statistics suggests that this instrument can be used for TQM data collection with confidence by researchers elsewhere who will investigate other proposed models.

An outline of the theory and elements of quality management employing Deming’s method is used to compare practices in several academic libraries in Australia. Discussion is based on personal observation of theory and practice.