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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the market structure and the key drivers of the competitiveness of an agile and collaborative fast fashion supply chain using South Korea’s Dongdaemun fashion market – one of the world’s largest and most competitive fashion hubs – as an example.

A qualitative approach is employed with a two-stage study. The first stage is a preliminary study based on a desk research and several field visits, while the second is an in-depth interview study with seven informants collectively representative of the members of all echelons along a fashion supply chain.

The findings demonstrate that the Dongdaemun fashion market has a complex market structure and a unique business pattern. Supply chain agility and collaboration are two important components of its success, which are supported by five factors: self-sufficient structure, multiple-integrated network, strong entrepreneurship, close and long-lasting buyer-seller relationships, and quick-response product delivery and inventory replenishment.

This study extends our knowledge of supply chain management in the fast fashion industry and provides insights to assist in the development of supply chain strategies in other fashion markets and/or other industries. The extended conceptual framework as well as the proposed questions may serve as points of reference for future studies in the subject area.

Hong Kong's prominent position in international textiles and the clothing trade will continue to shift under the transition of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA). To provide a better understanding of the relationships between the local clothing manufacturers' generic marketing strategies and their deployment for future challenges, some 33 industrialists were interviewed. The results reveal no difference between the marketing‐oriented firms and the less marketing‐oriented firms in relation to the adoption of strategic actions in response to the abolition of the MFA. The results also indicate that firms, irrespective of their marketing approaches, shared similar views regarding the perceptions of the impact of the MFA upon Hong Kong industry and the overall future prospects of the Hong Kong clothing industry. Nevertheless, an interesting finding was that there might be a relationship between a firm's marketing approaches and its attitude to experimenting with strategies under different business environments. Less marketing‐oriented firms are found to be less proactive towards future uncertainties than the more marketing‐oriented firms.

This paper investigates the relationship between generic marketing strategies and organisational designs of the Hong Kong clothing manufacturing firms. It also studies the strategic deployment adopted by firms with different marketing approaches in response to the MFA. It was hypothesised that there are generic marketing strategies that characterised clothing manufacturing firms (H1); there is a relationship between the marketing strategies and the organisations of a clothing manufacturing firm (H2); organisational characteristics determine a clothing firm's approaches toward generic marketing strategies (H3); and marketing‐oriented clothing companies tend to cope better with the challenges of the MFA than less marketing‐oriented ones (H4). The findings partially supported the first and second hypotheses but rejected the last two.

Given the intense international competition brought on by globalisation, an organization's profit is largely determined by how it leverages its internal and external resources. This paper studies the production sourcing strategies adopted by the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the clothing industry together with their motivations for outsourcing, adoption of buyer-seller relationships, and satisfaction with their production sourcing performance. A conceptual framework was developed from the literature and tested using a questionnaire survey. Quantitative analysis showed that motivational factors (MFs) can affect an SME's satisfaction with its operational achievement; while host-country and location MFs can affect its strategic achievement. In addition, firms adopting a pure transaction approach seemed to be negatively motivated by the total-cost factor; and those adopting a more diverse sourcing strategy were more likely to be motivated by the corporate factor so as to develop appropriate buyer-seller relationships with vendors, and to be satisfied with their operational performance. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of business networking from the perspectives of SMEs in regard to their pursuit of production sourcing; and demonstrates how clothing SMEs adopt production sourcing strategies to improve their production sourcing performance.

This paper studies the factors that motivate small and medium-sized clothing firms in Hong Kong to shift their production offshore, and identifies the interrelationships between these factors and firm-related characteristics, sourcing strategies, and buyer-supplier relationships. Using a multiple case methodology to study ten firms and a two-phase approach to collecting data involving, in-depth interviews and mail questionnaires, the two most important factors motivating the sourcing of production offshore are identified, as follows: (1) cost advantage of, and (2) availability of labour in, the host country. The results also show that industrial sector and firm size are the only firm-related characteristics that have an effect on the factors motivating offshore production. Furthermore, sourcing strategies and buyer-supplier relationships are sometimes influenced by these motivational factors.

This paper explores the fast fashion transformation in the apparel textile industry and subsequent impacts on fabric manufacturing and the development processes. Characterized by clothing styles with shorter life cycles, faster unit production, and impulse purchasing (Bruce & Daly, 2006), the reactive fast fashion business approach captures market trends and reflects those styles in constantly changing merchandise (Fernie, 2004). Manufacturers must maximize their competitive advantages in their production strategies, business models, and activities toward achieving retailers' fast fashion requirements. Competitive suppliers along the supply chain continuously innovate and adjust production and development methods to improve delivery lead-times and prices while maintaining quality requirements (Christopher & Peck, 1999). This paper will explore the impacts and changes in fabric development processes in response to the fast fashion retail strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the problems encountered by clothing merchandisers in managing fabric sample resources, and analyses their expectations of and requirements for a desirable management solution. It then aims to consider the architectural design of an intelligent fabric sample management system prototype, and the development of a construction and implementation plan for a fashion enterprise to install the system.

A three‐stage methodological approach is adopted. The first stage is a preliminary study using in‐depth interviews with potential system users; the second involves the architectural design of a five‐component system prototype; and the third develops a multi‐phase construction and implementation plan using a case study.

Four categories of problems in the management of fabric sample resources are identified, the system architecture is designed, and a construction and implementation plan is proposed. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed.

The design process of the research and development (R&D) framework enables fashion enterprises to obtain a deeper understanding of their operations in managing fabric samples and to make wiser decisions in resource allocation. By taking the specific needs of system users into consideration, system solution developers are able to design tailor‐made software packages that are intelligent, user‐friendly and user‐oriented.

Through a logical and systematic process of designing the R&D framework, the paper identifies some “technological rules” which links up the practice of solving an industrial problem with the formulation of substantive theories. This adds to the application of design science research.

Recent management literature demonstrates a growing interest in strategic networking. The aim of this paper is to explore the adoption of strategic networks using Hong Kong clothing industry as the context because the influence of Asian cultures is under‐researched.

Three key research questions about asset specificity, years of relationship, and size of the supplier base were developed from the literature. Qualitative data were collected from in‐depth interviews with senior executives at five large clothing companies in Hong Kong.

The qualitative findings confirm that the specific asset investment, reciprocal or one‐way, has a positive impact on the development of strategic networking; that enterprises strive hard to maintain longer relationships with key supplier members; and that a small supplier base is widely adopted by the sample firms.

The implications for managerial practice are that strong strategic networking is needed as transaction‐specific assets can safeguard the network relationship; that a long‐term relationship enables effective transactions; and that managing a small number of suppliers helps to stabilize network relationships.

This paper represents an initial attempt to include Asian cultures in the study of strategic network concepts within one globalized industry – the Hong Kong clothing industry. The paper also demonstrates to practicing managers how strategic networks made up of manufacturers and their suppliers are adopted and maintained, and in turn, guides practicing managers on how to allocate resources appropriately to develop a strategic network.

In recent years, social media have attracted considerable attention. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a critical literature review of social media research with the aim of developing a conceptual framework to explain how social media applications are supported by various social media tools and technologies and underpinned by a set of personal and social behavior theories or models.

This study adopted a two-stage approach. The first stage involves a critical literature review of academic journals in social media research, followed by the proposal of a conceptual framework that highlights the tools and technologies as well as theories and models that serve as the foundation of social media applications. The second stage involves the use of an actual case to demonstrate how the proposed framework facilitates the development of a social media application for a regional division of an international non-government organization.

The literature review indicated that social media have been applied in diverse business areas with the support of various social media tools and technologies and underpinned by a range of personal and social behavior theories and models. Based upon such findings, a conceptual social media application framework was devised and its usability illustrated via a real-life case study. Managerial implications are also discussed.

Social media covers a wide range of research topics and thus, the literature review presented in this study may not be exhaustive. Nevertheless, the proposed framework and case study can both serve as reference for future research and provide recommendations for practitioners in the design and development of their own social media applications.

This study not only explains the importance of applying social media in various business sectors, but also enhances the understanding of the infrastructure of social media applications. The study also provides insights for improving the efficiency of application solutions. Organizations are advised to adopt social media in their business based on the proposed conceptual framework.

With a literature review of social media research and a real-life case study, this study presents a conceptual framework using extant theories and models to form a foundation for social media applications. The framework extends existing knowledge on the design and development of information systems.