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The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

This analysis of the Japanese textile sector illustrates how intra-industry cleavages are becoming an integral feature of Japanese trade policymaking. In the past, a pattern of cross-sectoral variation in trade policy could be observed, as the government protected declining industries at home and sought to open foreign markets for the competitive export sector. The internationalization of Japanese firms, however, has radically affected the articulation of corporate trade policy preferences. There is an ongoing breakdown in solidarity among industry members based on their degree of multinationality and/or their reverse importing strategies. These clashes put contradictory pressures on the Japanese government, making it more difficult to predict the course of trade liberalization in Japan.

Globalization and its impacts on economies, societies and cultures has been a hot topic of research and discussion in the past few years. Recent times are witnessing the upsurge of another doctrine in the international arena – the practice of isolationism, a policy majorly related to political affairs but extendable to business, sustainability, green behaviour and various other spheres.

Globalization has resulted in various kinds of disordering and reordering of business objectives and practices. Modern day consumers have new needs and lifestyle orientations. The flip side is that increased global operations have precipitated newer challenges for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). But for managing globalization, isolationism is not the answer (Altman, 2007). Isolationism cannot be expected to have reciprocative effects of globalization. In fact, it may be in dispute with interests of many social stakeholders.

Responsible businesses have reoriented their CSR initiatives towards environmental and social stewardship. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the more recent strategic tools that provide a more focussed mandate to address sustainability issues emerging from increased production, consumption and disposal. In the times of vulnerabilities and disruption, there is an increasing emphasis on developing CSR as a horizontal enabler of SDGs.

Fashion & textile industry is the second most polluting industry globally. Fast fashion is having catastrophic impacts on the environment. Due to the massive size and magnitude of the global fashion & textile industry (USD 920 billion in 2018 and projected to grow to USD 1,230 billion by 2024), it becomes important to examine dimensions of CSR, in reference to SDGs in this sector. The fashion & textile industry is one of the most globally integrated. Sourcing, production, supply chain management, market development and retailing are all dependent on integration and collaboration amongst various business entities and regulatory bodies across national boundaries. Isolationism may result in disorientations in the enabling environments of this industry.

As sustainability is going to be the most important directive in coming future, the study aims to examine the cohesiveness between the current CSR initiatives of the fashion & textile sector and the prescribed SDGs. The study will further investigate if the instantaneous momentum of isolationism could cultivate multifaceted challenges for the horizontal integration of CSR in SDGs; and if yes, what will be the nature of these challenges?

This study examines the internationalization process within the textiles and apparel industry in two countries: Lithuania and Moldova. In particular, this study shows how the evolution by an industry toward greater internationalization is intricately linked to its ability to move up its specific value chain. This analysis compares and contrasts the ability of this industry in a Western European (Lithuania) and a nonaccession Eastern European country (Moldova) to move up the textiles and apparel value chain and so achieve higher levels of internationalization. In examining and relating the relevant factors, this analysis provides insights into – and suggests important modifications to – important concepts and themes such as the stage theory of internationalization, the role of “inward-outward” linkages in the value creation process, the mechanism of the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the part played by the European Union in the internationalization (and thus globalization) process.

Purpose – To analyse the contribution of firm structure (size, clustering and foreign ownership) and strategy (subsector specialization) to the financial performance Return On Assets [ROA] of almost 10,000 European textile-clothing firms.

Methodology/approach – A panel regression analysis is conducted for five European countries that are representative of a Southern European model of clustered Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) specialized in low-value-added products (Spain, Italy and Portugal) and of a Northern European model of large vertically integrated firms specialized in high-value-added products (France and Germany) in 2002–2009.

Findings – The Northern European model has generated better financial performance than the Southern European model due to the joint role of its structure (large size) and strategy (specialization). Nevertheless, we find a positive effect of clustering in the Southern European model.

Research limitations – Clusters were defined at the NUTS II level instead of the NUTS III level. The coefficient of specialization was calculated for the pre-liberalization average.

Practical implications – Explaining the different levels of competitiveness shown by the same territorial organizational model in an industry.

Originality/value of the chapter – Work that has studied the behaviour of the firms within this territory-industry relationship is still scarce. Given that the viability of clusters and of European manufacturing have been put into question, our work evidences that the efficacy of the decisions related to the firm's structure and strategy needs to be tested jointly so that the way in which the firm addresses environmental changes can be appraised.

This study analyses small-firm responses to an economic crisis, based on an empirical investigation in the post-conflict economy of Kosovo. Although the recent financial crisis affected all economies, we can expect differences in its effects across economies depending on their level of economic development, relative exposure to the crisis, as well as differences in entrepreneurial responses to adapt to the crisis. Kosovo makes a unique case to investigate the impact of the crisis on firm adaptive strategies to overcome or cope with the crisis. Drawing on data from in-depth, multiple case studies show that small firms during the crisis have successfully chosen to diversify and expand into new areas of business in order to compensate for low demand. By contrast, cost reduction was not a successful strategic response. The study demonstrates that although crisis affects many small firms, they show underlying resilience and a high level of adaptability and flexibility.

From 1850 to 1913, the Portuguese economy expanded slowly and diverged from the European core. In contrast, during the interwar period, Portugal achieved higher growth and partially caught up to the levels of labor productivity of Western Europe. Higher growth in Portugal after World War I occurred in a framework of protection and increasing levels of state intervention. Growth was due to structural changes that favored sectors with higher levels of factor productivity. Such changes were associated with growth in domestic demand and higher levels of investment, and were helped by sustained export levels, the continuation of essential imports, and the restoration of capital inflows.

This paper furthers the analysis of patterns regulating capitalist accumulation based on a historical anthropology of economic activities revolving around and within the Mauritian Export Processing Zone (EPZ).

This paper uses fieldwork in Mauritius to interrogate and critique two important concepts in contemporary social theory – “embeddedness” and “the informal economy.” These are viewed in the wider frame of social anthropology’s engagement with (neoliberal) capitalism.

A process-oriented revision of Polanyi’s work on embeddedness and the “double movement” is proposed to help us situate EPZs within ongoing power struggles found throughout the history of capitalism. This helps us to challenge the notion of economic informality as supplied by Hart and others.

Scholars and policymakers have tended to see economic informality as a force from below, able to disrupt the legal-rational nature of capitalism as practiced from on high. Similarly, there is a view that a precapitalist embeddedness, a “human economy,” has many good things to offer. However, this paper shows that the practices of the state and multinational capitalism, in EPZs and elsewhere, exactly match the practices that are envisioned as the cure to the pitfalls of capitalism.

Setting aside the formal-informal distinction in favor of a process-oriented analysis of embeddedness allows us better to understand the shifting struggles among the state, capital, and labor.