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Upgrading, Changing Competitive Pressures, and Diverse Practices in the East and Central European Apparel Industry

Author

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  • John Pickles

    (Department of Geography, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3220, USA)

  • Adrian Smith

    (Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London, London E1 4NS, England)

  • Milan BucÄ›k

    (Department of Public Administration and Regional Development, University of Economics, 852 35 Bratislava, Slovakia)

  • Poli Roukova

    (Institute of Geography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria)

  • Robert Begg

    (Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705, USA)

Abstract

After a period in the 1990s of rapid integration into the production and trade networks of the European Union (EU) (and to a lesser extent of the United States), clothing manufacturers in East and Central Europe have had to adjust quickly to the changing costs of production with EU accession, the rise of Chinese exports, and the 1 January 2005 final phaseout of quantitative quotas into major markets. In this paper we focus on the changing competitive pressures on clothing producers in the region and on the diversity of adjustments currently being made in response to these changes. In particular, we detail the wide range of adjustment strategies being adopted by firms in Slovakia and Bulgaria, and show how interregional price competition, downgrading, and geographical shifts in patterns of sourcing and production are articulated with imperatives to regionalized production for major markets, stabilization of supply networks, industrial upgrading, and the expansion of localized sourcing and domestic-marketing strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • John Pickles & Adrian Smith & Milan BucÄ›k & Poli Roukova & Robert Begg, 2006. "Upgrading, Changing Competitive Pressures, and Diverse Practices in the East and Central European Apparel Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(12), pages 2305-2324, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:38:y:2006:i:12:p:2305-2324
    DOI: 10.1068/a38259
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jiří Blažek & Viktor Květoň & Simon Baumgartinger-Seiringer & Michaela Trippl, 2019. "The dark side of regional industrial path development: towards a typology of trajectories of decline," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_08, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Curran, Louise & Zignago, Soledad, 2012. "EU enlargement and the evolution of European production networks," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 240-257.
    4. Stephanie Barrientos & Gary Gereffi & Arianna Rossi, 2012. "Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Production Networks: Developing a Framework for Analysis," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2010-03, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Yoruk, Deniz E., 2019. "Dynamics of firm-level upgrading and the role of learning in networks in emerging markets," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 341-369.
    6. Crispian Fuller & Nicholas A Phelps, 2018. "Revisiting the multinational enterprise in global production networks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 139-161.
    7. Navas-Alemán, Lizbeth, 2011. "The Impact of Operating in Multiple Value Chains for Upgrading: The Case of the Brazilian Furniture and Footwear Industries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1386-1397, August.
    8. Jennifer Bair & Marion Werner, 2011. "The Place of Disarticulations: Global Commodity Production in La Laguna, Mexico," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(5), pages 998-1015, May.
    9. Miroslav Šipikal & Milan Buček, 2018. "The Role of FDI in Regional Innovation and Its Influence on the Emergence of Knowledge Spillover Effects," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Jan Stejskal & Petr Hajek & Oto Hudec (ed.), Knowledge Spillovers in Regional Innovation Systems, pages 195-218, Springer.
    10. Lindsay Whitfield & Cornelia Staritz, 2021. "Local supplier firms in Madagascar’s apparel export industry: Upgrading paths, transnational social relations and regional production networks," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(4), pages 763-784, June.
    11. Mahmudul Hasan Fouji & Imranul Hoque, 2021. "Supplier Internationalization Through Upgrading in Global Supply Chain: Evidence from the Garments Industry of Bangladesh," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 116-129, December.
    12. Giuseppe Tattara & Paolo Crestanello, 2008. "Da impresa radicata nel territorio a rete globale. La ristrutturazione del gruppo Benetton," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2008(3).
    13. Richard Croucher & Claudio Morrison, 2012. "Management, Worker Responses, and an Enterprise Trade Union in Transition," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 583-604, April.
    14. Jiangjiang Kang & Chuankai Yang & Yuemin Ning, 2023. "Analysis of Regional Division of Labor in Value Chain Patterns and Driving Factors in the Yangtze River Delta Region Using the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industry as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, September.
    15. Nikolaus Hammer, 2023. "Searching for institutions: upgrading, private compliance, and due diligence in European apparel value chains," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(3), pages 371-386, August.
    16. Ulrich Ermann, 2011. "Consumer Capitalism and Brand Fetishism: The Case of Fashion Brands in Bulgaria," Chapters, in: Andy Pike (ed.), Brands and Branding Geographies, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Pipkin, Seth & Fuentes, Alberto, 2017. "Spurred to Upgrade: A Review of Triggers and Consequences of Industrial Upgrading in the Global Value Chain Literature," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 536-554.
    18. Daniel Schiller & Martijn J Burger & Bas Karreman, 2015. "The Functional and Sectoral Division of Labour between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta: From Complementarities in Production to Competition in Producer Services?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(1), pages 188-208, January.
    19. Vliegenthart, Arjan, 2007. "Regulating employee representation in postsocialist supervisory boards," SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 10(4), pages 67-82.
    20. Alexandre Berthe & Pascal Grouiez, 2020. "Small Farm Upgrading in GVC: a Strategic Perspective," Working Papers halshs-02953123, HAL.
    21. Plank, Leonhard & Staritz, Cornelia, 2014. "Global competition, institutional context, and regional production networks: Up- and downgrading experiences in Romania's apparel industry," Working Papers 50, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    22. Jan Stejskal & Petr Hajek & Oto Hudec (ed.), 2018. "Knowledge Spillovers in Regional Innovation Systems," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-319-67029-4, Fall.

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