International sourcing effectiveness in the fashion industry: the experience of Italian industrial districts

Corrado Cerruti and Emanuela Delbufalo

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 2009, vol. 3, issue 4, 427-440

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of supply chain governance mechanisms on international sourcing effectiveness, with specific reference to Italian fashion districts. The internationalisation of the supply chain is challenging the traditional governance approach of district firms – mainly based on informal mechanisms – and seems to stimulate the adoption of innovative supply chain management practices. Our goal is to investigate – by using a Delphi method – how SMEs in Italian fashion districts are developing a mix of informal-formal governance approach in order to manage the higher complexity of an international supply chain. To pursue this research objective we use a conceptual framework developed from Uppsala's internationalisation process model. Considering the above, the article focuses on two key areas of international supply chain management: interorganisational knowledge-sharing and risk management. Thus, it summarises the learning process fashion SMEs are experiencing in managing their international supply chains.

Keywords: industrial districts; fashion SMEs; sourcing effectiveness; supply chain management; SCM; internationalisation; knowledge sharing; risk management; fashion industry; small and medium-sized enterprises; international sourcing; Italy; governance. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=32261 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijgsbu:v:3:y:2009:i:4:p:427-440

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().