MNE-NGO partnerships for sustainability and social responsibility in the global fast-fashion industry: A loose-coupling perspective

Abstract

Stakeholders are increasingly aware of the environmental and human rights issues related to highly conspicuous fashion merchandising. To mitigate the negative responses from environmentally conscious consumer groups, fashion merchandisers have sought to partner with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While there is a growing body of literature on sustainability and social responsibility (SSR), the increasingly popular practice of fast-fashion industry partnering with NGOs has been neglected, and so far, remained under the radar. Such partnerships may be of success, but at the same time while promising on the surface, they can actually go awry, resulting in adverse outcomes for both parties. We build upon the loose-coupling theory to explain the relationships between fast-fashion multinational enterprises (MNEs) and NGOs. We discuss three causes (casual indeterminacy; fragmented external environment; discrete internal environment) and four key benefits (adaptability to environmental changes, flexibility, innovation, and firewalls for separate identity) for loosely-coupled partnerships. We then explore the dark side of such partnerships, identifying three challenges (power imbalance, mistrust and opportunism, and misaligning goals). Finally, we offer a set of propositions as a way of advancing our knowledge of partnerships in fashion merchandising industry.

Adapting business models in buyer-seller relationships: paradoxes in the fast fashion supply chain

“…It has been noted that the formula needs to include additional key attributes nowadays, especially considering the impact of both economic and environmental concerns in the way fast fashioners manage the supply chain (Li et al , 2014) and sourcing decisions (Arrigo, 2020). Sustainability in the fashion industry is, in fact, a key issue (Liu et al , 2020) and according to Di Benedetto (2017), corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be now conceived as a key component of fashion business models. Moreover, some studies have considered consumers’ avoidance of fast fashion brands (Kim et al , 2013) or in the same vein, consumers’ appreciation of “slow fashion formulas” (Hall, 2017).…”

“…The “fast fashion” terminology has generally been used by academics and practitioners to consider a business model, increasingly adopted over the years in the fashion system, that combines high renewal rates of collections, style/design content and a sharp reduction in inventories and time to market. Fast fashion has been disruptive on several sides in the industry: in the way of conceiving the fashion product (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst, 2010), for its influence on consumption models (Gabrielli et al , 2013) and more recently, for increasing concerns in terms of environmental and social sustainability (Taplin, 2014a; McNeill and Moore, 2015; Liu et al , 2020). In particular, the textile-clothing supply chains have been revolutionised by the actions of fast fashion actors (Barnes and Lea-Greenwood, 2006; Guercini and Runfola, 2012; Taplin, 2014b; Caro and Martínez-de-Albéniz, 2015).…”

“…Moreover, the literature has also focussed on understanding how small and medium-sized actors in the fashion system can replicate and propose adaptations of this formula (Runfola and Guercini, 2013). Hence, the academic debate has considered fast fashioners and their international expansion (Childs and Jin, 2014), approaches to the market (see, for example, Shen et al , 2017) and the recent evolution towards sustainable fast fashion models (Liu et al , 2020), focussing on the decision in terms of supply markets, e.g. in terms of locational strategies of sourcing and manufacturing and the management of the supply chain from the viewpoint of fast fashion clients.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): motivations and challenges of a Multinational Enterprise (MNE) subsidiary’s engagement with host communities in Ghana

“…Recently, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasingly attracting researchers' attention, particularly those studies on multinational enterprises (MNEs) (Liu, Napier, Runfola & Cavusgil, 2020;Rodriguez et al, 2006). There is an evolving trend of the literature within the sustainability discipline focusing on examining CSR practices of MNEs (Pisani, Kourula, Kolk, & Meijer, 2017;Tan and Wang 2011).…”

A Way to Boost the Impact of Business on 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Co-creation With Non-profits for Social Innovation

“…Thus, in the last decade, there have been worldwide institutional initiatives that drive SI, such as the Europe 2020 Strategy within the European Union, the World Economic Forum and its “Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation,” or the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Forum on SIs of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Harazin and Kósi, 2013 ; Morrar et al, 2017 ). From an academic point of view, SI has been addressed in a very fragmented and multidisciplinary way (Moulaert et al, 2005 ; Grimm et al, 2013 ; Van der Have and Rubalcaba, 2016 ).…”