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

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 0 examiner la compe´titivite´de l 0 industrie d 0 exportation du veˆtement au Cambodge, dont le de´veloppement e´conomique re´cent du pays a e´te´particulie`rement de´pendent. À partir d 0 entretiens primaires ainsi que diverses sources secondaires, nous montrons comment le Cambodge s 0 est inse´re´dans les chaıˆnes de valeur internationales de la confection en s 0 appuyant presque entie`rement sur des investissements internes. Malgre´une croissance e´conomique qui en de´pit de la forte concurrence chinoise se poursuit depuis la fin de l 0 Accord sur les Textiles et les Veˆtements, en de´cembre 2004, l 0 industrie reste vulne´rable en raison d 0 infrastructures de´ficientes, de conditions ouvrie`res instables, de la corruption ainsi que de la faiblesse de l 0 industrie domestique du textile, qui sont tous des facteurs qui nuisent a`son attractivite´aupre`s des investisseurs internationaux.

Stitches to Riches?: Apparel Employment, Trade, and Economic Development in South Asia

“…In Cambodia, the vast majority of top and middle managers, technical workers, and supervisors are foreigners (Natsuda, Goto, and Thoburn 2009). …”

Decent Work in the Chinese Apparel Industry: Comparative Analysis of Blue-Collar and White-Collar Garment Workers

“…A closer look at the data indicates that the gap between satisfaction and importance of work relations is the lowest. Compared with strained labor relations in other lower labor-cost countries [22,66], employment relations in the Chinese garment industry seem relatively good.…”

“…Since labor costs represent a significant part of overall costs, as sourcing costs rise, retail buyers explore new suppliers in lower-cost regions which may have lower labor standards [2,26]. Consequently, poor working conditions are commonly found in garment manufacturing [2,21,22]. Implications of poor working conditions include negative media attention and consumer boycotts in consumption locations, which are harmful to fashion brands' reputations, as well as factory strikes in production locations, which hinder the smooth flow of product through the global production network.…”

“…However, there is little evidence documenting working conditions of garment workers and little research has been done on decent work from the perspective of garment workers, even though references to and case studies of countries are common in recent literature [16][17][18][19][20]. Existence of CSR standards does not necessarily mean that companies rigidly follow them [21] but previous research has fallen short of providing figures on the satisfaction and concerns for decent work from the perspective of workers [16,17,22]. Therefore, an examination of decent work from the perspective of production line and office workers in garment manufacturing businesses could provide a more accurate reflection of working conditions in China.…”

Transient global value chains and preferential trade agreements: rules of origin in US trade agreements with Jordan and Egypt

“…A key characteristic of these chains/networks is that they are highly contingent organisationally and geographically (Coe et al 2008). In the textile and garments industry, an important outcome of these shifts has been the rise of Asian trans-national producers as key "carriers" and organisers of important segments in the GVC with the presence of these companies documented in many low-income production locations (Azmeh and Nadvi 2014, Appelbaum 2008, Gibbon 2003Lall 2005;Chiu 2007;Kaplinsky and Morris 2008;Phelps et al 2009;Gereffi and Bair 2010;Natsuda et al 2010;Fernandez-Stark et al 2011;Morris et al 2011;Rotunno et al 2012). …”