Risk Management: Rethinking Fashion Supply Chain Management for Multinational Corporations in Light of the COVID-19 Outbreak

How did COVID-19 affect logistics and supply chain processes? Immediate, short and medium-term evidence from some industrial fields of Italy

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on logistics and supply chain processes of five industrial sectors of Italy, namely food & beverage, machine manufacturing, metal mechanical industry, logistics & transport, and textile & fashion. A questionnaire survey, with 82 useful responses, was conducted to investigate various effects of Covid-19 on these businesses, such as the volumes handled and the service performance in the immediate-, short- and medium-term, the countermeasures implemented by companies and the future decision-making strategies. The period of analysis spans from January 2020 to June 2021. Results show that the impact of Covid-19 on volumes and service performance varied across the sectors: the food & beverage and logistics & transport were poorly affected by the pandemic and experienced a general increase in the demand and volumes, while mechanical or textile & fashion industries were mostly affected by a decrease in demand. The positive/negative impacts were particularly evident at the beginning of the pandemics, but, depending on the sector, the effects could cease quite quickly or last in the short-term. The countermeasures adopted against the Covid-19 emergency differ again across sectors; in general, industry fields that were particularly impacted by the pandemic emergency have applied more countermeasures. Typical strategies for risk management (e.g., the diversification in transport modes or the stock increase) turned out to be applied as immediate countermeasures or in plan for the future in few industries only. Differences across sectors were also observed about the sourcing strategies already in use, implemented to counteract the pandemics or expected to be maintained in time. Empirical outcomes offered are expected to help researchers gain a deep understanding of Covid-19 related phenomena, thus inspiring further research activities.

Impact of COVID-19 (2020–2022) on Cotton and Garments Market of Bangladesh: A Small Country Case

Bangladesh imports roughly 98% of cotton from abroad to produce fabric or yarn (USDA 2020. Cotton and Products Update. Bangladesh. Also available at https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Cotton%20and%20Products%20Update_Dhaka_Bangladesh_11-30-2020). The production of textiles in Bangladesh depends on the price of raw material, the demand for garment products in the importing countries, smooth supply chain management, and the domestic supply of cheap garment laborers. The global pandemic of COVID-19 disrupted the supply chain of almost all physical goods and services, including textiles. It caused the price of textiles to fall due to a drop in worldwide demand, and increased the marginal cost of textile production due to supply chain interruptions. This paper shows how the decline in the demand for garments, coupled with an increase in cost, shrinks the producer welfare of textile manufacturing and garment exports of the small producing country, Bangladesh.

Consumer perceptions and actions related to circular fashion items: Perspectives of young Brazilians on circular economy

The fashion industry is one of the most important industries for the world economy, but is also one of the most polluting. Some fashion companies have been adopting circular economy initiatives to combat this. Circular fashion (CF) results in cleaner production and reduces textile waste, but depends on consumer collaboration. Several studies analysing consumer CF issues worldwide have been recently published, but these studies are not common in emerging countries. This paper seeks to investigate the relationships between Brazilian consumers and CF. The methodology comprised a systematic literature review and survey. The main results show that, although young consumers are willing to change their clothing consumption habits and believe that fashion companies should be more sustainable, most of them never get involved in circular actions in the fashion chain. This paper seeks to fill a research gap on Brazilian CF, and contribute to both literature and the fashion industry in developing countries.

Assessing strategies to mitigate the impacts of a pandemic in apparel supply chains

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught global businesses that a pandemic can put business dynamics in unforeseeable turbulence. The disruptions created by the pandemic in the apparel industry exposed the vulnerabilities of apparel supply chains (SCs). To recover the supply chain impacts (SCIs) during an unprecedented event such as the COVID-19 pandemic, apparel SCs need a robust framework that can identify, measure, and mitigate the severity of SCIs by assessing effective mitigation strategies. This study identifies 12 critical SCIs in apparel SCs during a pandemic and 17 mitigation strategies. To assess SCIs and mitigation strategies, a modified grey-based bi-level analytical network process (ANP) is proposed to deal with the complex relationship between the SCIs and mitigation strategies. A real-life case study is conducted from an apparel supply chain for validation purposes. The findings suggest that policymakers in apparel SCs should prioritize implementing government policies and financial aid to deal with increased material and operational costs, the sudden surge in the unemployment rate, cancellation of orders and delayed payment, and increased transportation costs during a pandemic. This study also contributes to the literature by providing a robust decision-making framework for practitioners to deal with the complexity of SCs during future pandemics.

Conversion strategy builds supply chain resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A typology and research directions

This study proposes a novel typology of adaptation to hazards-a conversion strategy as a countermeasure to manage risks in interconnected supply chains. Conversion strategies are intended to transform one or multiple supply chain functions for a different one to manage the changing environment. Supply chain disruptions due to natural hazards have been researched in key manufacturing-based economies like Thailand, the US, Japan, and China. Limited studies, however, have looked at the nature of interconnected risks and its effective countermeasures that arise when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupt supply chains. Here, we examine systemic risks by contrasting supply chain disruptions caused by natural hazards and the pandemic. Our study investigates whether businesses can manage systemic risks brought on by the pandemic by learning from dealing with disruptions caused by natural hazards. We offer a typology of conversion strategies to demonstrate how conversion strategies can be a successful response to pandemic scenarios. Specifically, we propose six conversion types: production location, production line, storage, usage, distributional channel, and workforce skill set. Then, we conclude with the future research directions as well as the kinds of policy supports required to assist businesses in implementing conversion measures by drawing on prior work addressing natural hazards.

Study on the Practice of Enterprise Financial Management System under the Epidemic Norm Based on Artificial Neural Network

The sudden arrival of the new crown epidemic has had a significant and long-lasting impact on the division's economic environment as well as the production and operation activities of businesses. As far as the financial management is concerned, opportunities and difficulties are faced by enterprises of all types. With reference to the available research data, enterprises have an important contribution to GDP and jobs, but they still face a series of difficulties and challenges in their development in the context of the normalization of the epidemic. By analyzing the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on the financial management work of enterprises, this paper proposes an artificial neural network-based enterprise financial forecasting and early warning method to provide an effective method for enterprise financial management. For the time-series characteristics of enterprise finances, a prediction model based on long- and short-term memory networks is developed which acknowledges the necessity of combining the temporal dimension with the spatial dimension for forecasting. This model incorporates time qualities into the data to the existing forecasting model. It also considers both working and nonworking day data and thoroughly considers the factors influencing corporate finance. Then, using BP neural network for financial risk prediction, nonfinancial index factors should be added to the financial early warning model thus eliminating the limitations of the financial early warning model. At the same time, the accuracy of the prediction can be improved which is more suitable for enterprises to apply in practice. The experimental results demonstrate that the financial prediction model built by multilayer feed forward neural networks and recurrent neural networks based on error back propagation training is inferior to the prediction model built by long- and short-term memory network. Regardless of the degree of fitting or prediction accuracy, the BP neural network model outperforms the conventional model for enterprise financial warning. Under the normalization of the pandemic, the combined use of both can offer an efficient technique for enterprise management.

Workforce and supply chain disruption as a digital and technological innovation opportunity for resilient manufacturing systems in the COVID-19 pandemic

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (also known as COVID-19), workforce downsizing needs, safety requirements, supply chain breaks and inventory shortages affected manufacturing systems' and supply chain's responsiveness and resilience. Companies wandered in a disrupted scenario because recommended actions/strategies to survive - and thrive - were not available an improvised actions to keep their operations up and running. This paper analyzes the COVID-19 impacts on the workforce and supply resilience in a holistic manner. The following research questions are discussed: (i) how can manufacturing firms cope with urgent staff deficiencies while sustaining at the same time a healthy and safe workforce in the perspective of socially sustainable and human-centric cyber-physical production systems?; (ii) is remote working (cf. smart working) applicable to shop-floor workers?; (iii) is it possible to overcome supply chain breaks without stopping production? In the first part, we propose three Industry 4.0-driven solutions that would increase the workforce resilience, namely: (i) the Plug-and-Play worker; (ii) the Remote Operator 4.0; (iii) the Predictive Health of the Operational Staff. In the second part, the concepts of (i) Digital & Unconventional Sourcing, i.e. Additive Manufacturing, and (ii) Product/Process Innovation are investigated from a novel business continuity and integration perspective. We ultimately argue that forward-looking manufacturing companies should turn a disruptive event like a pandemic in an opportunity for digital and technological innovation of the workplace inspired by the principles of harmonic digital innovation (that places the human well-being at the center). These aspects are discussed with use cases, system prototypes and results from research projects carried out by the authors and real-world examples arising lessons learned and insights useful for scientists, researchers and managers.

A global trade supply chain vulnerability in COVID-19 pandemic: An assessment metric of risk and resilience-based efficiency of CoDEA method

The COVID-19 pandemic has an adverse impact on the global trade supply chain. Countries where the economy is driven by global trade, either as exporters or importers and are faced with the problem of declining imports and exports. This is due to the interruption of the main players of the global supply chain (i.e., production, logistics and transportation sector) as well as the slow-down in consumption of overseas customers. This paper presents the development of an efficiency related metric from the Coherent Data Envelopment Analysis (CoDEA) method for assessing the vulnerability (or conversely, the robustness) levels of the supply chain system of six ASEAN countries. The results reveal that Thailand is most vulnerable to international supply chain issues indicated by its lowest efficiency score. This is due to Thailand's severe disruption of logistics and transportation systems compared with its neighboring countries. In contrast, Vietnam is the most robust because of its efficiency in the exports sector. Our research reveals that trading partners with a lower risk and the ability to rapidly recover their import volume reflect their less vulnerable supply chains. This research provides the associated strategies to establish a resilient global supply chain in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flow of goods to the shock of COVID-19 and toll-free highway policy: Evidence from logistics data in China

Using high-frequency logistics data from China, this paper quantitatively examines the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on logistics. Meanwhile, our research focuses on the toll-free highway policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing the promoting effect of this policy on road freight in China. Three main conclusions are drawn from the study. Firstly, the COVID-19 pandemic led to an average daily drop of 0.67% in road freight volume and an increase of 0.48% in logistic cost compared to the pre-pandemic period. Secondly, the toll-free highway policy had a significant offset effect of pandemic on freight volume and price, stimulating the resumption of work and production. However, the dynamic effect shows that the toll-free highway policy is only temporarily effective rather than the long term. Thirdly, the effectiveness of the toll-free highway policy is moderated by the severity of the epidemic and the transportation distance. This paper contributes to research on economy recovery and transportation policy under the COVID-19 pandemic shock.

Non-Financial Enterprise Financialization, Product Market Competition, and Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises

At present, two big challenges have struck China’s economic development: economic containment “from the real to the virtual” and accomplishment in the goal of high-quality economic development. Taking China’s A-share public manufacturing enterprises from 2007 to 2020 as samples, this paper empirically analyzes the relationships among product market competition, non-financial enterprise financialization, and total factor productivity of enterprises. It is found that non-financial enterprise financialization significantly lowers down the total factor productivity of enterprises, that is, the total factor productivity of enterprises will drop by 1.7% as the non-financial enterprise financialization rises by 1 SD every time. After external regulation effects of product market competition are further taken into account, the furious product market competition, on the whole, mitigates the negative influences of non-financial enterprise financialization on total factor productivity of enterprises by strengthening the role of non-financial enterprise financialization as a “reservoir” and abating the “crowding-out” effect. Therefore, competition promotion policies combined with funds moving “from the virtual to the real” could more effectively elevate the enterprise productivity.

The Development of an Integrated External Environment Monitoring Framework Aimed at the Internal Control of the Procurement Process of Fat and Oil Companies

The article deals with the development of methodical recommendations for monitoring the external environment aimed at the internal control of the procurement process in business based on a risk-oriented approach and with the digital techniques used by fat-and-oil industry companies. For research purposes, the following were necessary: first, to develop an integrated scheme for monitoring the external environment aimed at the internal control of the procurement process, taking into account the specifics of the commercial organization’s activity; and second, to analyze the features of the integrated monitoring scheme with the use of digital techniques. The methodology for developing methodical recommendations for monitoring the external environment aimed at the internal control of the procurement process is based on a risk-oriented approach, the unforeseen circumstances theory, and the use of big data and business analytics. In the first section, the authors substantiate the relevance of the research topic. In the second section, investigations on the topic are reviewed, the theoretical foundations are summarized, and research hypotheses are formulated. The third section determines the methodology of the study. The fourth section presents the research results, their practical value, recommendations and limitations, and the developed integrated scheme for environment monitoring with regard to the internal control of the procurement process based on a risk-oriented approach taking into consideration the specifics of the fat and oil industry. This section also determines the specifics of the digital techniques used for monitoring the environment and discusses issues surrounding the external monitoring of raw material prices, different types of work, and services based on digital techniques aimed at internal control. In the fifth and final section of the article, the authors analyze the research results and substantiate the prospects for further research in this area. The research results could be used by commercial companies in processing industries which are undergoing digital transformation and developing platform solutions aimed at improving internal control. The main research result of this article is the development of methodical recommendations for monitoring the external environment aimed at the internal control of the procurement process in business based on a risk-oriented approach with the use of digital techniques and a developed integrated monitoring scheme.

An integrated SWOT-AHP-fuzzy TOPSIS approach for maturity management following the COVID-19 outbreak: lessons learned from fast fashion

Purpose

Focussing on issues that have impacted textiles, clothing and fast fashion following the COVID-19 outbreak, this study aims to identify agility factors pertinent to retail maturity management, mainly on resilience. These factors were then assessed based on priority.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to identify the main factors. This analysis was integrated with the analytic hierarchy process to rank the internal and external factors. Then, the authors used fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution to evaluate the significant strategies from the SWOT analysis based on adaptability and flexibility. Thus, the authors produced a prioritised list of relevant factors and guidelines useful in practical settings.

Findings

The authors identified and ranked 14 agility and resilience SWOT factors for maturity management and proposed and prioritised six relevant strategies. These highlighted changes and adaptations must be undertaken by various actors, ranging from the supply/manufacturing side to global retail locations.

Research limitations/implications

The sampling study of experts is limited, and the application is focussed on one area. Future research might investigate other fields, for retail and industry.

Practical implications

The output of this study enables a better understanding of the internal and external factors of maturity management for fast-fashion retailers. Hence, it will further help them go through resilience and agility challenges following the pandemic.

Originality/value

This study significantly contributes to the literature because the results can guide retailers in developing effective decision-making systems for mature business operations following the pandemic outbreak. Here, the authors incorporate internal, external, agility and resilience aspects into one decision-making support system while enhancing existing knowledge on fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making applications. Further, this study discusses critical issues that have affected several aspects of the fashion and textile industry and will likely persist for some time.

Production Scheduling of Personalized Fashion Goods in a Mass Customization Environment

The COVID-19 pandemic has put fashion manufacturers’ needs for optimization in the spotlight. This study argues that mass customization is becoming increasingly instrumental for offering consumers individualized solutions and that suppliers of fashion have to look for more sophisticated solutions in order to face the increasing demand for more sustainable products. With the deduction of a mathematical model derived from production sequencing it became evident that sustainability can be associated with a level production schedule and that cost-based production optimization is useful in achieving holistic sustainability in the fashion industry. The flexibility in the conceived mathematical model specifications allows for a generalizable approach, not limited to a single branch of the fashion industry. This paper additionally delivers a cost-based optimization approach which fashion companies, operating in a mass customization production layout, can easily implement without extensive know-how. The proposed two-stage algorithm is based on the concept of level scheduling. In a first stage, the algorithm determines a feasible production sequence in a time-efficient way while, in the second stage, it further advances the efficiency of the solution. Thus, it offers a framework to optimize a production in a mass customization environment and can contribute to a company taking major steps towards a holistic sustainable orientation as available resources are used more (cost) efficiently.

Overcoming the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by using adapted marketing logistics in the "Zara" company

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people live on the planet. The global economy suffered the biggest blow. The fashion industry has been forced to implement significant changes in their value chains. The subject of the research carried out in this work is to look at the specifics of marketing logistics activities that companies operating in the fashion industry were forced to implement in order to adapt to the business conditions that arose as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the work is to point out the most important specifics of marketing logistics in the fashion industry in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, using the example of the Zara company, which effectively and quickly implemented numerous adjustments, which enabled it to reduce the negative impact of the crisis event.

Does COVID-19 pandemic disrupt sustainable supply chain process? Covering some new global facts

The adverse effects of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are widely visible in the economic structure, while the principal causal factor is the disruption of the supply chain process that leads to the economies into a global depression. The purpose of the study is to identify the critical factors that affect the global sustainable supply chain process in the cross-sectional panel of 38 European countries, 14 North American countries, 40 Asian countries, and a heterogeneous panel of 111 countries. The results show that an increase in susceptible coronavirus cases and death tolls limits the supply chain process because of nationwide closures of industries and business activities. In contrast, an increase in the number of recovered cases supports economic activities and improved logistic performance index across countries. The innovation accounting matrix shows that since August 2020, the global coronavirus cases will decline and start resuming economic activities to increase the supply chain process. The result is further supported by the estimates of reduction in the proportion of death to recovered cases (case fatality ratio 1) to increase sustainable logistics activities. However, the supply chain process could affect an increasing death toll and case fatality ratio 2 (i.e., the proportion of death to registered cases) over time. The global economies should ensure a free flow of sustainable logistics supply, especially the supply of healthcare medical equipment that would help control the coronavirus pandemic, which escapes from the nations from a global depression.

Managing the great bullwhip effects caused by COVID-19

Purpose

This study aims to answer the question of how firms can deal with the great bullwhip effects caused by COVID-19?

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory research method has been adopted and evidence was collected based on 41 online interviews.

Findings

The study finds that the bullwhip effect is caused by the sudden changes in customers purchasing behaviour during the pandemic and the businesses’ inaccurate anticipation of the situation. Managing the bullwhip effects caused by COVID-19 requires situation awareness, localisation and an intelligent supply chain. Situation awareness is a vital concept in emergency response, knowing what is going to figure out what should be done. Furthermore, reducing the geographical distances between the firm and other parties in the supply chain, which equates to supply chain localisation, enforces just-in-time inventory. Finally, supply chain digitalisation is no longer an option; implementing such a solution enables end-to-end visibility, collaboration, flexibility and optimisation of orchestration of the supply chain.

Research limitations/implications

This study presents indicators explaining how organisations can deal with the great bullwhip effects caused by COVID-19.

Originality/value

The ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant challenges for supply chain management, and this study contributes to the body of knowledge and proposes a model of reducing the bullwhip effects.

Exploring customers' responses to online service failure and recovery strategies during Covid-19 pandemic: An actor-network theory perspective

While the debate on online service failure and recovery strategies has been given considerable attention in the marketing and information systems literature, the evolving Covid-19 pandemic has brought about new challenges both theoretically and empirically in the consumption landscape. To fully understand customers' responses to service failure during a crisis we asked 70 millennials from three European Countries-Italy, France, and the UK-to describe their responses to service failure during the Covid-19 pandemic (30 completed a 4-week diary and 40 completed a 4-week qualitative survey). Drawing on phenomenological, constructivist, and hermeneutical approaches, and utilizing an actor-network theory perspective, the current study proposes a new framework for understanding customers' responses to online service failure and recovery strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Conclusions highlight implications for theory, policy, and management practice through extending comprehensions of service failure recovery processes by examining how marketing policies generate different social impacts during a crisis situation which facilitate the achievement of customer satisfaction and positive outcomes.

Risk perception of COVID-19 among sub-Sahara Africans: a web-based comparative survey of local and diaspora residents

BACKGROUND

Perceived risk towards the coronavirus pandemic is key to improved compliance with public health measures to reduce the infection rates. This study investigated how Sub-Saharan Africans (SSA) living in their respective countries and those in the diaspora perceive their risk of getting infected by the COVID-19 virus as well as the associated factors.

METHODS

A web-based cross-sectional survey on 1969 participants aged 18 years and above (55.1% male) was conducted between April 27th and May 17th 2020, corresponding to the mandatory lockdown in most SSA countries. The dependent variable was the perception of risk for contracting COVID-19 scores. Independent variables included demographic characteristics, and COVID-19 related knowledge and attitude scores. Univariate and multiple linear regression analyses identified the factors associated with risk perception towards COVID-19.

RESULTS

Among the respondents, majority were living in SSA (n = 1855, 92.8%) and 143 (7.2%) in the diaspora. There was no significant difference in the mean risk perception scores between the two groups (p = 0.117), however, those aged 18-28 years had lower risk perception scores (p = 0.003) than the older respondents, while those who were employed (p = 0.040) and had higher levels of education (p < 0.001) had significantly higher risk perception scores than other respondents. After adjusting for covariates, multivariable analyses revealed that SSA residents aged 39-48 years (adjusted coefficient, β = 0.06, 95% CI [0.01, 1.19]) and health care sector workers (β = 0.61, 95% CI [0.09, 1.14]) reported a higher perceived risk of COVID-19. Knowledge and attitude scores increased as perceived risk for COVID-19 increased for both SSAs in Africa (β = 1.19, 95% CI [1.05, 1.34] for knowledge; β = 0.63, 95% CI [0.58, 0.69] for attitude) and in Diaspora (β = 1.97, 95% CI [1.16, 2.41] for knowledge; β = 0.30, 95% CI [0.02, 0.58] for attitude).

CONCLUSIONS

There is a need to promote preventive measures focusing on increasing people's knowledge about COVID-19 and encouraging positive attitudes towards the mitigation measures such as vaccines and education. Such interventions should target the younger population, less educated and non-healthcare workers.

Evaluating Supply Chain Collaboration Barriers in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The disruption has a significant impact on supply chain collaboration (SCC) which is an important task to improve performance for many enterprises. This is especially critical for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We developed a decision-modeling framework for analyzing SCC barriers in SMEs for the emerging economy in Bangladesh. Through literature review and expert opinion survey, we have identified a comprehensive list of SCC barriers under four main categories, namely, information-related, communication-related, intra-organizational, and inter-organizational barriers. Then we applied the Grey DEMATEL and Fuzzy Best-Worst methods to evaluate these SCC barriers and compared the results. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis to assess the robustness of the proposed approach. The study reveals that lack of communication is the most crucial barrier in SCC, providing a model for assessing barriers in other emerging economies. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing SCC barriers and by comparing the results obtained from two different MCDM methods. The findings of this study can help decision-makers to plan for overcoming the most prioritized SCC barriers which ultimately contribute to improving the resilience and sustainability performances of SMEs.

The Nexus between Financial Performance and Equilibrium: Empirical Evidence on Publicly Traded Companies from the Global Financial Crisis Up to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Financial performance and financial equilibrium are two key aspects that should be monitored by any business manager interested in passing the test of time and overcoming unpredictable events such as economic crises. The organic link between financial performance and financial equilibrium has rarely been studied in the long run for companies listed on the stock market. The present article fills this gap in the literature by examining the degree to which financial performance influenced long-term financial equilibrium using data from 34 major companies publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and operating around the world in a wide variety of industries and sectors. The period of analysis spread over a decade (2007Q1–2020Q3) in order to cover two major crises that have marked the dawn of the third millennium and occurred relatively close to one another: the 2008 financial meltdown and the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. By means of panel data modelling, the study showed that the short-term and long-term financial equilibria of these public companies measured by current ratio, quick ratio and debt to equity ratio were significantly impacted by different financial performance indicators. The study addresses various implications of the empirical results and lays out avenues for future research.

To What Extent Retail Chains’ Relationships with Suppliers Make the Business Trustworthy—An Empirical Study on Fast Fashion in Pandemic Times

The current pandemic situation has created many challenges for maintaining positive relationships between fast fashion retailers and their suppliers. In the proposed paper it is assumed that strong and ethical relationships may be beneficial for all supply chain members, especially in the era of global pandemic. Therefore, the aforementioned issues (fast fashion retailers’ ethical behavior towards suppliers) constituted the subject of the paper. Our knowledge about relationships between fast retail chains and their suppliers in the times of global pandemic is relatively week. Trying to fill the gap, this paper discussed relationships between fast fashion retail chains and their suppliers’ customers on the basis of literature review and case study research. Purpose: The aim of the paper was to indicate the scope of activities undertaken by retailers and addressed at suppliers by fast fashion retail chains in pandemic times. The following goals of descriptive and cognitive character were assumed in the paper: (a) Identification of the fast fashion retailers’ common behavior in the era of pandemic, and (b) indication of ethical practices applied by fast fashion retail chains which are beneficial for all retail chain members, based on the Inditex example. Methodology: Based on the theoretic deliberation of retail chain relationships with suppliers in the pandemic times, qualitative research was conducted to supplement the theoretical background. The purpose of this study was to identify how fast fashion retailers maintain relationships with their suppliers in supply chains. The conducted research enabled us to reveal answers to the following research questions: What are good practices of fast fashion retailers in terms of relationships with suppliers? Can socially responsible, trustworthy fast fashion retailers stay profitable in the Covid-19 pandemic? The theoretical deliberation was based on a critical literature review. The empirical part of the paper was based on case study research. The conducted research was descriptive in nature, conducted in order to describe a particular phenomenon within its context, and was not intended to provide conclusive evidence, but to have a better understanding of the problem. A descriptive intrinsic case study was the method applied in the research. Results: On the grounds of literature studies, as well as collected information, we can state that close and ethical cooperation with suppliers, based on socially responsible relationships, are becoming a more and more important part of the strategy for commercial chains. There are companies that use any legal measures to not fulfil their obligations as contractors and avoid paying for orders completed and in production. The descriptive case study research allowed us to observe, analyze, and report good practices of fast fashion retailers in terms of relationships with their suppliers based on the Inditex example. The theoretical contribution: On the grounds of the case study, we can state that during pandemic times fast fashion retail chains have focused on the development of relationships with suppliers, which means changing from transactional to relationship marketing in cooperation strategies. Practical implications (if applicable): The paper provided intellectual input into the managerial problem of how to develop mutual beneficiary relationships between fast retail chains and their suppliers. The study suggests that fast fashion retail chains have to take into consideration growing customer expectations, which regard their cooperation’s strategies toward suppliers.

CSR Statements in International and Czech Luxury Fashion Industry at the Onset and during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Slowing Down the Fast Fashion Business?

COVID-19 leads to a reinforced need to address sustainability at the economic, environmental, and social pillars, and the six categories of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of businesses, that is, their self-commitment to integrate sustainability in their policies and strategies and to become more effective and efficient. Luxury fashion businesses refer heavily but not identically, to their CSR, by formally issuing CSR reports and Codes of Ethics, and informally voicing their pro-CSR statements. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and brought important changes. This burning issue translates into three objectives in this paper—assessing the CSR statements of International and Czech Luxury Fashion Industry businesses (i) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (iii) identifying new trends. To address them, a holistic and interdisciplinary case study exploration was performed entailing 10 International Luxury Fashion businesses and 10 Czech Luxury Fashion businesses. The resulting data were explored via Meta-Analysis and content analysis, teleological interpretations, etc. The critical and comparative review revealed six interesting trends indicating a shift in perception of sustainability and CSR caused by COVID-19. The review offers propositions for how the COVID-19 threats could become an opportunity for rebuilding this industry.

Deploying Resilience Enablers to Mitigate Risks in Sustainable Fashion Supply Chains

The complex structure of supply chains makes them vulnerable to risk, so enhancing their resilience is an important goal. In particular, fashion supply chain research has identified two important issues that need to be addressed: sustainability and risk. However, investigation of these issues is relatively sparse and has primarily been independent with little combinatory research. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a risk mitigation method that can maximize the resilience of sustainable supply chains for fashion companies. The objective of this study is to develop an integrated quality function deployment approach and to mitigate supply chain risk by deploying resilience capabilities and resilience-enhancing features, thus ultimately providing the fashion industry with a useful approach for the development of resilient, sustainable supply chains. Using a fashion company as an example, the practicability of the proposed approach is verified. To strengthen resilience and thus mitigate key risks, it is found that the most urgent tasks are to reallocate the company’s resources, to carry out the real-time monitoring of risk on the spot, to share the risk responsibility, and to establish an incentive system. When these features are strengthened, agility and adaptability can be improved, and finally, the risks of supplier delays, natural disasters, political instability, and problematic supplier materials with the greatest impact can be alleviated. This study provides a new strategy for the fashion industry for the implementation of resilient, sustainable supply chains to mitigate risks.

Internal website presentations of Czech luxury fashion businesses in the COVID-19 era

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of tools boosting marketing, management, and innovations via digital platforms, such as internal websites of the top Czech luxury fashion businesses in the COVID-19 era. The main purpose of the research is to perform a case study about how these websites address COVID-19, innovations, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. Systematization of the scientific sources and approaches for solving the problem indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted industries that are dispensable and, at the same time, costly. The relevance of this scientific problem's decision matters theory and practice since the COVID-19 crisis is rather a negative challenge than a positive opportunity for businesses, which often ends up paying the ultimate price – falling into bankruptcy. A battery of employed methodological tools includes a simplified Delphi method with data processing by a panel of experts, the meta-analysis and content analysis, and teleological interpretations instruments. The research object is the Summer 2021 version of the internal websites of the top 20 Czech luxury fashion businesses based on their pre-COVID-19 turnover in 2018. The paper presents an empirical analysis based on this case study and juxtaposes it to prior academic findings. The research empirically confirmed and theoretically proved the underplayed potential of the websites of luxury fashion businesses. The research results could be helpful for theory adjustments and have practical implications and offer recommendations for businesses. They lead to propositions about the internal perspective and digital readiness to inform about it and a general attitude to the marketing, management, and innovations during crises.