Challenges to the Cambodian Garment Industry in the Global Garment Value Chain

Kaoru Natsuda, Kenta Goto and John Thoburn
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Kaoru Natsuda: Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Oita prefecture, Japan
Kenta Goto: Kansai University, Osaka, Japan
John Thoburn: University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

The European Journal of Development Research, 2010, vol. 22, issue 4, 469-493

Abstract: This article examines the competitiveness of Cambodia's garment export industry, on which the country's recent and successful economic development has depended to an unusually heavy extent. Using primary interviews and drawing on a wide range of secondary sources, it documents how Cambodia was drawn into garment global value chains, based almost entirely on inward investment. Despite its expansion in the face of strong Chinese competition, since the end of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing in December 2004, the industry remains vulnerable as a result of deficient infrastructure, labour unrest, official corruption and the absence of an adequate domestic textile industry, all of which serve to diminish its attractiveness to global buyers.Cet article a pour but d′examiner la compétitivité de l′industrie d′exportation du vêtement au Cambodge, dont le développement économique récent du pays a été particulièrement dépendent. À partir d′entretiens primaires ainsi que diverses sources secondaires, nous montrons comment le Cambodge s′est inséré dans les chaînes de valeur internationales de la confection en s′appuyant presque entièrement sur des investissements internes. Malgré une croissance économique qui en dépit de la forte concurrence chinoise se poursuit depuis la fin de l′Accord sur les Textiles et les Vêtements, en décembre 2004, l′industrie reste vulnérable en raison d′infrastructures déficientes, de conditions ouvrières instables, de la corruption ainsi que de la faiblesse de l′industrie domestique du textile, qui sont tous des facteurs qui nuisent à son attractivité auprès des investisseurs internationaux.

Date: 2010
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