Bin Shen, Xuemei Ding, Lizhu Chen and Hau Ling Chan
This paper aims to discuss the low carbon supply chain practices in China’s textile industry. To curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Chinese government has launched restrict…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the low carbon supply chain practices in China’s textile industry. To curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Chinese government has launched restrict regulatory system and imposed the energy consumption constraint in the textile industry to guarantee the achievability of low carbon economy. The authors aim to examine how the energy consumption constraint affects the optimal decisions of the supply chain members and address the supply chain coordination issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct two case studies from Chinese textile companies and examine the impact of energy consumption constraints on their production and operations management. Based on the real industrial practices, the authors then develop a simple analytical model for a low carbon supply chain in which it consists of one single retailer and one single manufacturer, and the manufacturer determines the choice of clean technology for energy efficiency improvement and emission reduction.
Findings
From the case studies, the authors find that the textile companies develop clean technologies to reduce carbon emission in production process under the energy consumption enforcement. In this analytical model, the authors derive the optimal decisions of the supply chain members and reveal that supply chain coordination can be achieved if the manufacturer properly sets the reservation wholesale price (WS) despite the production capacity can fulfill partial market demand under a WS (or cost sharing) contract. The authors also find that the cost-sharing contract may induce the manufacturer to increase the investment of clean technology and reduce the optimal WS.
Originality/value
This paper discusses low carbon supply chain practices in China’s textile industry and contributes toward green supply chain development. Managerial implications are identified, which are beneficial to the entire textile industry in the developing countries.
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Shi-qing Wu, Bin Shen, Yun-zhe Tang, Jia-hai Wang and Da-teng Zheng
The purpose of this paper is to study a method to optimize the arrangement of the devices on a smart assembly workbench, which help to reduce fatigue and improve efficiency for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study a method to optimize the arrangement of the devices on a smart assembly workbench, which help to reduce fatigue and improve efficiency for the worker.
Design/methodology/approach
The optimization priority is studied based on the users’ decisions, a mathematical model of the layout optimization is established from ergonomic perspective and an improved algorithm is adopted to solve the built the mathematical model.
Findings
Ergonomic software Jack is chosen to simulate the four layout schemes obtained. Through comparative analysis of the simulation results, it is proven that the optimal solution can be obtained using the improved algorithm.
Originality/value
The mathematical model built on observation comfort, operation comfort and device accessibility, as well as the improved algorithm in this paper, has some reference values for the layout design of smart assembly workbench.
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Shiqing Wu, Zhonghou Wang, Bin Shen, Jia-Hai Wang and Li Dongdong
The purpose of this study is to achieve multi-variety and small-batch assembly through direct cooperation between equipment and people and to improve assembly efficiency as well…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to achieve multi-variety and small-batch assembly through direct cooperation between equipment and people and to improve assembly efficiency as well as flexibility.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, the concept of the human–computer interaction is designed. Secondly, the machine vision technology is studied theoretically. Skin color filter based on hue, saturation and value color model is put forward to screen out images that meet the skin color characteristics of the worker, and a multi-Gaussian weighted model is built to separate moving objects from its background. Both of them are combined to obtain the final images of the target objects. Then, the key technology is applied to the smart assembly workbench. Finally, experiments are conducted to evaluate the role of the human–computer interaction features in improving productivity for the smart assembly workbench.
Findings
The result shows that multi-variety and small-batch considerable increases assembly time and the developed human–computer interaction features, including prompting and introduction, effectively decrease assembly time.
Originality/value
This study proves that the machine vision technology studied in this paper can effectively eliminate the interferences of the environment to obtain the target image. By adopting the human–computer interaction features, including prompting and introduction, the efficiency of manual operation is improved greatly, especially for multi-variety and small-batch assembly.
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Bin Shen, Yulan Wang, Chris K.Y. Lo and Momoko Shum
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical fashion and consumer purchase behavior (their willingness to pay a premium for ethical fashion), with the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical fashion and consumer purchase behavior (their willingness to pay a premium for ethical fashion), with the focus on consumers’ concerns and beliefs about, and knowledge of, ethical fashion.
Design/methodology/approach
A self‐completion questionnaire was administered to 109 respondents. Factor analysis and other statistical analyses were applied to test hypotheses.
Findings
The findings suggest that consumer beliefs about ethical fashion, which are based on their perceptions of a company in terms of its reputation in the fashion industry, influence their support for what they perceive as socially and environmentally responsible businesses.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size, which is relatively small, is a limitation for this research. The data were collected in Hong Kong, limiting findings to that geographic region.
Practical implications
An important implication is that consumer education is essential to mitigate the prevailing throwaway culture and raise consumer awareness of ethical issues facing the fashion industry. Thus, retailers should take initiatives to educate consumers so as to ensure the success of their newly‐launched ethical fashion products.
Originality/value
The paper proposes an approach to clearly understand the impacts of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior.
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Pragati Sinha, Monica Sharma and Rajeev Agrawal
The objective of this paper is to synthesise the published literature on consumer awareness and acceptance of Sustainable Fashion (SF) and highlight that sustainability decisions…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this paper is to synthesise the published literature on consumer awareness and acceptance of Sustainable Fashion (SF) and highlight that sustainability decisions taken across procurement, designing, manufacturing and retailing must include the consumer perspective of SF.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on sustainable fashion combined with consumer behavior was conducted. The study approach involved descriptive analysis, content analysis and theoretical analysis in the first section. The later sections focus on sustainability practices across the apparel supply chain that can foster acceptance of sustainable fashion.
Findings
In this review paper, five solutions that are typically used for leveraging consumer awareness and acceptance towards sustainable fashion are identified from the latest research papers: (1) attention to micro-sensitive factors (2) shared responsibilities (3) repositioning sustainable fashion for larger audience (4) positioning conscious fashion and (5) unified approach. These solutions are proposed as most important for achieving success in sustainable production and sustainable consumption (SPSC) for the fashion industry. Further, suggestions for how to embed sustainability related business decisions across sourcing, designing, manufacturing, distribution and recollection and retailing are also provided.
Practical implications
Through this research, a clear view emerges of the progression of publication and where future research should be directed to popularise sustainable fashion among consumers. Research findings and proposed solutions will be valuable inputs for brand managers, marketers and retailers as they conceive new plans and make decisions about addressing sustainability challenges in textile and apparel manufacturing firms.
Originality/value
This is a first of its kind of study on sustainable fashion that highlights the importance of understanding consumer behaviour in influencing sustainability decisions required across sourcing, designing, manufacturing and retailing to achieve substantial economic advantages in the fashion industry. End-to-end supply chain processes (i.e. procurement, design, manufacturing, marketing and retailing) are considered to identify several factors that influence consumer behavior in favor of sustainable fashion throughout the supply chain.
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Ramkrishna Punjaji Manatkar, Shantanu Saha and Bishal Dey Sarkar
Siqing Shan, Mengni Liu and Xiaobo Xu
With the development of mobile internet, instant messaging (IM) applications have gradually changed the way to receive information and communicate with friends. Considered as one…
Abstract
Purpose
With the development of mobile internet, instant messaging (IM) applications have gradually changed the way to receive information and communicate with friends. Considered as one of the important social media platforms, WeChat is the most popular IM application in China. This paper aims to examine the influence factors of haze information’s dissemination in WeChat.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the theory of information dissemination and the theory of motivation, three information dissemination elements including information source, information and information receiver were proposed in the structural equation model. The model was tested using data collected from both online and offline questionnaire survey results. The data analysis from 170 valid responses confirmed the path effects that emotional motivation, social motivation of information receiver and the credibility of information source positively influenced WeChat users’ re-transmission intention and information emotional tendency negatively influenced their re-transmission intention.
Findings
The research model revealed these key factors that affected dissemination of haze information in WeChat. More importantly, it provided a decision-making framework to release the public emergency information in WeChat. Hence, the paper made an important contribution to practical guidance to relevant decision makers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on examining factors affecting the haze information transmission in WeChat. A framework was proposed to describe the information dissemination process which comprises information source, information and information receiver.
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Hau-Ling Chan, Yiu-Keung Kwok and Shun-Mun Wong
This study aims to examine the research trends in fashion industry during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Besides, it also provides an overview on the new…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the research trends in fashion industry during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Besides, it also provides an overview on the new marketing and operational strategies, and reveals the corresponding business challenges of a footwear enterprise in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive literature review is first conducted to identify the research trends in fashion industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative exploratory case study is then used to illustrate how a footwear enterprise has coped with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
The case study has showed that omni-channel retailing, collaboration with e-tailers, quick response system and mixed production strategy are adopted in the targeted case during the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the targeted case has also faced the challenges in the areas of sales, customer relationship management, and demand forecasting and inventory planning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This study provides managerial insights on the real practices used to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes various academic future research directions in fashion industry based on the real-world observations.