The Influence of External Stakeholder in the Competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) Industry-A study on RMG supply chain in Bangladesh

Abstract

Improving competitiveness is essential for any industry to survive in the extremely competitive business environment. And it is very important when it is through supply chain. A number of research studies have been done in different industries about this issue but very limited in textile and clothing sector. The Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector of Bangladesh is the very important sub-sector of textile and clothing industry. Its’ play very important role to earn foreign currency in the economy of Bangladesh. After MFA it is very important to improve the competitiveness of RMG in the world clothing market. There are some research works about the competitiveness of Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garments (RMG) but significant study about the competitiveness of RMG by analysing supply chain is minimal. This paper aims to investigate the influence of external stakeholders to improve the competitiveness of Bangladeshi RMG industry in the way of improving competitiveness of RMG supply chain. An exploratory field study utilizing qualitative methodology was undertaken by conducting 10 interviews in different garment companies of Bangladesh. A content analysis technique was applied to examine the influences of external stakeholders with their associated variables. The qualitative evidences support the influence of external stakeholders in the RMG supply chain to improve competitiveness. This study offers further development of research model in future research of garment sector to improve competitiveness and provides its possible implications.